Most professional societies are fairly stodgy. That is probably because the officers and members are (with good reason) concerned about their image. But however professional they may be, the members are still human beings, and they are entitled to a bit of fun now and then. Gail Marcus recognized that fact and tried to bring a bit of lighthearted fun to the American Nuclear Society. During her term as president of the Society, she wrote new words to a familiar tune and had planned to have them sung at the 2001 winter meeting in Reno, Nevada. (I don't remember whether she had planned to sing them herself, have the collected members sing them, or have a recording played.) Unfortunately, there was some concern about the copyright to the tune, so no music was played at the meeting. The words were read, however, and most of the members in attendance could probably hear the music in their minds.
Despite her setbacks at the 2001 winter meeting, Gail was determined to have music at a Society meeting, so in 2002, the American Nuclear Society organized a song-writing contest. The rules were written to avoid problems of copyright. The webmaster for this site found the contest to be an interesting challenge. He started with a public-domain tune, "Yankee Doodle," and wrote lyrics, accompaniment, and a three-part vocal arrangement for it. He called the song "Neutron Doodle." The lyrics provde a quick romp through the history of civilian nuclear technology. They touch on the fundamental science, the environmental benefits of nuclear electric power generation, non-power applications of nuclear technology, and, yes, even accidents. "Neutron Doodle" was selected as the winning entry, and a recording of it was played, with an accompanying PowerPoint video, before the opening plenary session of the 2002 annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society in Hollywood, Florida.
Singers in the recording included Jeff Brown, Sheila Galford, and Kevin McCoy. The music was recorded in the studio of David Henderson. The lyrics, arrangement, and recording of "Neutron Doodle" provided on this site are copyright 2002 by Kevin McCoy.
To read the lyrics, click here. The link points to a Word document with comments that provide commentary on the song. (The comments may not be visible. Try View / Comments, or save a copy and try to view them in the offline copy.)
If you don't use Word, click here for a text version of the lyrics.
To hear the music, click here. The link points to an MP3 file (about 3 megabytes).
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(This web site is not associated with the American Nuclear Society.)
