Lake County >> When Dr. Harry Lyons was a young, bright-eyed collegiate studying pre-veterinary medicine, he was crushed by a cow. Unable to forgive the animal, his vet career ended before it began. It all worked out in the end though, when Lyons picked up an Environmental Science degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey before attending graduate school at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
Today, Lyons works as a professor of Biology and Ecology at Yuba College. He also entertains crowds who cram into rooms to hear him talk about water, rocks and things scientific.
Last Saturday, people packed in tight at the Lakeport library to hear Lyons not only give a talk — this time about geology — but also for some less than stellar trumpet playing. “I think it’s important to establish with people that science and public presentation isn’t about perfection, it’s about courage,” Lyons said. “It’s about doing what you can. I’m a terrible trumpet player, but in doing that there’s a connection to the audience.”
Lyon’s isn’t being modest; his trumpet playing really can be described as terrible, but that’s the point. “The listeners have to realize that science and scientists and performance, they’re a work in progress,” he said. Clearly Lyons’ lectures aren’t exclusively about science; they also impart important bits of wisdom.
Though Lyons isn’t the most talented trumpet player around, he does have a knack for the guitar. He pulled out the instrument a few times throughout the afternoon. “It comes from a performance,” he said. “One of the things I got involved with is playing jazz and when I was in the vineyard business. That’s where part of my money came from. You get used to linking ideas in front of a bunch of people.”
Lyons takes the chords of traditional numbers and writes his own scientific words to go along. “It’s usually a jazz standard with really nice harmonics and really nice chords,” he said. “Because they have the great chords and then I come up with not so great lyrics.”
Russian lyrics dominated one of Lyon’s numbers, and he chose the song as a tribute of sorts. “It’s a jazz standard, that was the idea,” he said. “That song I sang was called Dark Eyes, it’s a Russian folk song. I did want to remind myself of the important oceanographic work done by the Soviets.”
He infused the talk with humor, eliciting loud rumbles of laughter throughout the room. “What the trick is, it has to be connected to the material,” Lyons said. “The humor only works if it’s connected to the actual science, or at least the scientist.”
But the jokes are about more than just keeping the audience engaged, they also send the message that science is anything but dull. “It has to be lighthearted and fun,” Lyons said. “Because science is fun.”
A native San Deigan, Lyons moved to the area for a taste of small town life. “I was ready for a rural experience and that rural experience was the one that I chose for the rest of my life,” Lyons said. “It was a place where I met very supportive, interesting, hard working people and I think that’s what needs to be said about Lake County … I’m just a fan of the lake and the people.”
Moving to the county brought about a change of pace, or rather, “a change of color” according to the scientist. “It’s a paradox because the open ocean is famous for not much plant growth and Clear Lake is famous for lots of plant growth,” Lyons said. “So I went from a blue water system to a green water system.”
But Lyons doesn’t find his location change all that strange. “People always say, ‘What are you doing so far from the ocean?’ So I always say, ‘Everybody’s gotta be somewhere.’”
During graduate school, Lyons spent a couple months at a time at sea, studying the ocean’s ecosystem. “I was on three or four expeditions and I greatly enjoyed that,” he said. “That’s what I did and that’s what I wanted to do at Scripps and I got to do that.”
While studying oceanography, Lyons got his feet wet in educational instruction. “I taught when I was in grad school. I didn’t have to, but I wanted to teach,” he said. “So while I was at Scripps I taught at San Diego City College.”
Before moving to Lake County, Lyons taught at the University of Seattle and the University of British Columbia. “For a while I went from one temporary position to another but then I settled here in Lake County and did the vineyard thing,” Lyons said.
A far cry from the ocean, Lyons relocated to the area to assist a friend in need. “I came here to help a friend, John Brookes, and John Brookes had a vineyard … ” he said. “And I had no job prospects at that time so I stayed and I did vineyard management with John and then on my own for some 17 years. For those 17 years I also taught part time.”
Though a vineyard brought him to the county, the rich environment, particularly that of Clear Lake, has been more than enough to keep him satisfied. “It’s a very diverse environment and the geology and the climate combine to create a very robust community and many different types of communities,” he explained. “So what you get is the geology, the climate, they’re going to create conditions for many different types of biological communities. And there are problems with those communities that makes it more scientifically interesting. The whole idea that there are problems with the lake make the lake interesting.”
So even without the sea, Lyons’ skills as an oceanographer are not lost in Lake County. “We have the lovely plankton in the lake,” he said. “As a plankton person I felt very comfortable looking at the Clearlake plankton.”
His fascination with science is clearly contagious. And with attendance at his talks high enough to make parking difficult, this idea certainly reached a lot of people. “It’s a great compliment to me that there were that many people there. I really appreciated that,” Lyons said. “It’s very flattering.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
