Alfred University alumni, parents, and friends:
What do Alfred University’s world-class observatory and the popular Air Hockey game have in common? Both were made possible thanks to late Alfred University alumnus and emeritus professor of physics, John Stull ’52, PhD ’54.
John earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University and went on to earn a doctoral degree in the same field, making him the second Alfred student to earn both undergraduate and doctoral degrees in ceramic engineering. He served on our faculty from 1958 until his retirement in 1992.
John’s greatest contribution to our university, and to the field of astronomy, is the development of the on-campus observatory that bears his name. The Stull Observatory, named in John’s honor in 1989, was constructed in 1966. John is credited with building or rebuilding almost all of the observatory’s telescopes, and he is renowned for leading the effort to make it one of the finest teaching observatories in the country.
The Stull Observatory’s growth was due in part to John’s idea of creating a device that uses air to simulate a near frictionless environment.
John Stull’s son, Peter, began following in his father’s academic footsteps at Alfred University in 1975. Peter explained that, in 1962, his father authored a magazine article on creating a low-friction air track; by directing air from a vacuum cleaner under a flat surface perforated by hundreds of tiny holes, a near frictionless surface would result. The magazine invited John to attend an expo in New York City to display his idea. According to Peter, John was in the booth showing people how they could build their own air track when representatives from the Cambridge, MA-based Ealing Corporation—a maker of opto-mechanical products for education, research, and industry—offered to assist him in getting the air track patented.
In 1963, John was in Boston meeting with the president and vice president of Ealing to discuss the text for the patent. The vice president suggested the technology could also be used for a game that every bar in the country would want. “John Stull and the Ealing president thought that was just ridiculous, so they didn’t include it in the air track patent.” Peter says.
As it turns out, John’s air track technology was indeed used to develop a game that rose to popularity in the 1970s. The Air Hockey game, created in 1972 by a group of employees of Brunswick Billiards company, consists of a table with a smooth surface with air flowing up through thousands of tiny holes. The evenly-distributed air allows the hard flat discs (Air Hockey pucks) to slide easily along its surface. Players use plastic hand-held mallets to strike the puck and direct it toward the opposing goal.
“They (Air Hockey makers) used the same technology, but it was public domain technology by then,” Peter says. “The lesson here is to patent as broadly as you can.”
