midnightinchicago
Reputable and respected scientists have a different way of looking at the world … different than how the average individual looks at the world. They have to otherwise there would be no scientific advancements across the ages. This is how they come up with various hypotheses and the ensuing experiments that form the foundation of good science.
My father was a world renown research scientist. He and my son, Lewis, were the best of research associates when my father was still with us. Some of the hypotheses that Lewis thought up led to some of the most unexpected experiments to ever grace a kitchen countertop.
While I have many tales of scientific discovery that I could share here, I am going to share the tale of the 7 loaves of bread and grass seed.
For the most part, when your 3 1/2 year old toddler says he wants you to buy different bread, as a parent, you assume that your child is broadening his palate, willing to experience new gastronomic delights. And so it was on this particular day way back when that Lewis asked me to buy 7 different kinds of bread … and grass seed.
We stopped off at his grandfather’s apartment after picking up the bread and grass seed, and Lewis insisted that we bring the bag upstairs to the apartment and so I did.
Lewis was welcomed in by his grandfather who, it appeared, had been waiting for us to arrive and in that moment I realized that once again I had been roped into providing the basics for some scientific experiment they both had in mind. Yes, I had purchased white bread, whole wheat bread, rye bread, 7 grain bread, cracked wheat bread, pumpernickel bread and sourdough bread along with a small bag of grass seed to facilitate an experiment.
A clipboard with paper and pen attached sat on the kitchen table; the paper had been printed off with little squares and headings to identify what each column was to represent. In the middle of the kitchen table, level and well positioned, was a small weigh scale that is normally used for measuring correct sized meal portions. Seven small bread plates were lined up along the top of the small freezer off to one corner in the kitchen.
I watched as these two with 70 years between birthdays pulled one slice of bread from each bag and placed it on individual bread plates, marking each plate carefully with numbers that corresponded to numbers on the clipboard. Seven times, the same amount of grass seed was measured out and seven times, grass seed was placed on a slice of bread.
For seven days, this experiment continued with daily visits from Lewis to his grandfather’s apartment. Every day, water was carefully measured out, recorded on the page, and then poured onto a piece of bread … seven times. And every day, observations were carefully and deliberately written in the appropriate columns.
In the end, all three of us learned that grass seed does not grow well in white bread, grows very slowly in pumpernickel (but it’s a hardy growth) and grows best in rye bread.
To this day, I’m not certain what purpose this experiment may eventually serve but I do know that as a third party observer, I could see that neither the budding scientist nor the established scientist traveled the path of traditional thinking.
And while the path they journeyed along was very different, it was, nonetheless, very logical and very specific and yielded unexpected results none of us could have guessed at when I was first fooled into buying 7 loaves of bread that were never eaten by Lewis or me.
Elyse Bruce
Founder and Creator
MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO
