Scary Ben
It was 80 degrees under a cloudless sky in St. Charles, Illinois.
Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed, striking a kite and shooting down the string to a bald scarecrow. Its giant eyes glowed.
“What’s that?” asked a Girl Scout working on a nearby display.
“It’s a famous scientist,” her friend replied.
The girl could have been talking about the scarecrow version of Ben Franklin, the father of electricity, or the man standing behind him, Fermilab scientist Todd Johnson. He worked with docents from the lab to construct the mechanical scarecrow, whose plasma-disc eyes were designed to spark whenever a strobe light and thunderclap recreated Franklin’s famous kite-flying experiment. In a sea of creatures crafted from straw and cloth, from sports ghouls and movie characters to a singing Sasquatch, Ben stood out.
“I love getting to do the special effects and work behind the scenes,” Johnson says. “I never stopped being a kid.”
It was the fourth year Fermilab submitted a scientist-themed entry to the annual Scarecrow Festival, which draws 60,000 visitors. The high-energy physics laboratory also runs a booth at the festival with science activities for kids.
Johnson, who says he loves playing with “science toys,” was in his element the day before the festival, tinkering with the motor and electronics that powered Ben Franklin. Johnson’s recorded voice, adjusted to sound deep and menacing, boomed out of the scarecrow whenever someone touched a button and triggered a lightning flash.
As the thunder boomed once more, the scarecrow turned to look at the Girl Scouts and proclaimed, “That was really quite illuminating.”
Haley Bridger
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