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Eric Heller of Harvard Gives Vibrations Talk
by Stephanie Lewkowitz

Dr. Heller relaxed a bit as he heard himself commended for his good reputation and high citation record. He was always nervous before giving this particular talk, because it was, in effect, one of the greatest risks he took in regard to his professional career. With each speech he jeopardized his hard earned rapport and even his Harvard tenure in order to help implement the surreptitious motives of a secret society. A few of its leaders had approached Dr. Heller in private to make their case clear. Dr. Heller would be wise to contribute to their global movement, and in return Dr. Heller would gain deep insights into nature's truths.

The speech began calmly and cautiously. He offered to his audience a "table of contents" for the upcoming talk, which would be dominated by science, art, history, and mysticism; and while he made his innocent crowd laugh along with his witty inclusion of "inert ingredients," Dr. Heller inwardly calmed his nerves.

"Ok everybody," he enthusiastically addressed, "I'd like to tell you about a very special type of resonating device that each of you carries for as long as you live. Please raise one hand up to your cheek, draw your index finger under your thumb, and….ping ping ping!" As Dr. Heller flicked his stretched mouth, his audience joined his amplified drumming and filled the auditorium with sound. These were the personal Helmholtz resonators, and this was a key lecture tactic to ease up his participants for the crucial part of the ceremony.

Dr. Heller rubbed his hands together swiftly. "I would now like to tell you about an 18th century German scientist named Ernest Florenz Friedrich Chladni, who earned great renown during his days and was even invited to the court of Napoleon to show his fantastic discovery. In Napoleon's words, Chladni made sound visible, and now you will get to see what he meant!"

The metal plate, electronic signal generator, and amplifier were set up. The demonstration was projected on the overhead. Inert poppy seeds began to bounce on the plate as soon as steady waves were transferred to the system, and each time resonance occurred between the rising pitch and the vibrating plate, the poppy seeds collected in the nodes, and beautiful, clear geometric patterns were formed. The quiet crowd was awed. A handful of secret society officials silently oversaw from the back of the auditorium, pleased with the number in attendance. The changing patterns captivated the audience, quite literally, though this was unbeknownst to the onlookers. Each wide eyed participant was falling deeper into the potential well of the Cult of Vibration (the secret society). Each was becoming a harmonic particle of the threads that wove that Cult. A final high pitched tone rang out loudly. "Pretty neat, huh," Dr. Heller asked, turning down the device. Then he went on to share information about other scientists, whose fascination in waves led them to make valuable achievements, including the acoustics of Wallace Sabine, the mathematics of Sophie Germain, and the atom transporting microscope of Don Eigler. Dr. Heller concluded by sharing some of his newest work, which artistically communicates the visual results of flowing electrons. All in all, the lecture was exciting for those who were listening. The students who attended the luncheon on the following afternoon mysteriously disappeared from the physics building for a solid three hours. When approached, Dr. Heller eschewed questioning and carried on as if he knew nothing. Hence, Dr. Heller finished without disclosing his true purpose, and the Cult of Vibration earned about 300 new lifetime members.