The PBS show, ”History Detectives,” contacted the MATE department to see if they could help them solve a mystery about a crumpled piece of metal. The item had been given to a small boy by his grandfather and was supposedly from a Lockheed Electra plane flown by Amelia Earhart from a botched test flight in Hawaii. The sample in question may be a part of the landing gear that fell off.

In early March, TV crews descended upon Cal Poly and filmed Prof. Trevor Harding in action with History Detectives star, Elyse Luray. Instructive and entertaining, Trevor explained the function of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) while analyzing the metal. The piece was indeed found to be aluminum and to have small amounts of copper, magnesium, and iron. A small piece was also sectioned for metallography using the same techniques that the MATE students routinely perform for their courses.

The results of the analyses and the answer to the mystery will be revealed on the PBS show in early summer.