Chapter 4 Visual Aids: Your Supporting Cast

Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century, chalkboards were a novelty. Institutions would boast about having the only chalkboard in a 100-mile radius. At fi rst, audiences were excited just to have a chalkboard as part of the presentation. Over time, though, presenters started using the boards in more sophisticated ways: rulers to make lines, chalk tied to string to make circles, and colored chalk to show features. Some scientists and engineers were admired for the way they used the chalkboard. For instance, Ludwig Boltzmann was considered a master of board work, using one large board for main equations and two smaller boards for intermediate steps. 2 Another master was Richard Feynman. He planned many of his lectures such that the writing for the lecture began in one corner and ended in the opposite one.