Published: Jan. 15, 2002

University of Colorado at Boulder physics Professor John Taylor, also known as the original "Mr. Wizard," will electrify the audience during the Jan. 26 CU Wizards show "Shocking Facts About Electricity."

The free hour-long show will begin at 9:30 a.m. in Duane Physics room G1B30 on the Boulder campus.

Taylor's show will focus on what electricity is and what can be done with it. He will demonstrate how it can be used to light lights, heat things, make sparks, drive electric motors and create magnets. In one experiment, Taylor will show the audience how electricity can make one's hair stand on end.

Taylor and former CU-Boulder Professor Jim Scott created the CU Wizards program in 1976. Taylor received an Emmy Award for the television series "Physics for Fun" which he helped produce and which aired from 1988 to 1990.

The CU Wizards series is an annual, nine-month-a-year program that introduces audiences to astronomy, chemistry and physics. Though intended primarily for students in grades five through nine, shows are educational and entertaining for people of any age.

Free parking for the Jan. 26 show is available in lot 169 northeast of Folsom Stadium off Folsom Street, lot 396 off Stadium Drive, lot 378 southeast of Folsom Stadium, lot 436 east of the Engineering Center and lot 308 south of Regent Drive and west of Kittredge Loop Road. Parking also is available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark for a nominal fee.

For information about the CU Wizards series call (303) 492-6952.