The following article appeared May 28, 2003 in the

 Businessman's donations foster kids' interest in science, space.

By Stephanie Slater
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted May 28, 2003

    A wireless weather system in Richard Newman's backyard monitors wind direction, the temperature, humidity and dew point. The system transmits a signal to a device in his Boca Raton home, which then uploads the information to a Web site every 60 seconds.

    Children across the country are using the same system to learn about the weather. They'll soon be able to watch animals and birds in their natural habitat with an outdoor, weather-proof high resolution camera, similar to those used for surveillance in night clubs and casinos.

     Newman is the founder of science and technology centers at Boy Scout camps, Indian reservations and schools in 10 states including Florida, New York, Washington, Montana and Alabama. Each center has a digital telescope, fossil and rock collections, insect collections and computers, as well as space exhibits that include rare flight helmets, pieces of thermal tile, gloves used on Russia's orbiting Mir space station and a vial of microscopic beads made on the Challenger in April 1983.

    "I call it the wow factor," Newman said. "I wish they had stuff like this when I was a kid."

    Newman's childhood nickname was "the wire man." He entered science fairs, and one of his exhibits, the affect sound and light has on plants, was displayed in the New York Hall of Science in Flushing, Queens.

    Newman found success designing a sound system for the Pines Hotel in the Catskills resort area in New York state. The hotel made him stage manager and during his 13 years there, he produced shows for entertainers including Milton Berle, Tony Bennett and Joan Rivers.

    At about the same time, Newman developed High-Tech Productions, a tape & DVD duplication and conversion company. He's transferred tapes from VHS to DVD for clients including NASA, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control.

    "My wife, Jeanne, and I were the first to see the Al-Qaeda training tapes," said Newman, who moved to Boca Raton the day after Hurricane Andrew. "CNN had 28 tapes sent down by courier. We converted them from the PAL (Afghanistan) format to the American mini DV format."

    Always close to his heart are the summers he spent as a Boy Scout at Ten Mile River Scout Camp in upstate New York. When he learned his scout master died, Newman bought the camp's canteen and renamed it the "Jerry Reimer Trading Post". He then provided the camp with computers, a microscope and telescope. The first High-Tech Productions.com Science & Technology Center opened July 14, 2001. Newman unveiled the 14th center this month in North Carolina. Nearly 99 percent of the items in the centers are paid for by Newman. "My goal is to have one in all 50 states," he said.

    Newman spends his spare time refinishing antiques and fine-tuning a 1980 electric car equipped with a video system, strobe lights and a wireless public address system with CD and MP3 playback. The yellow car, he said, is the only one of it's kind known to still be running and licensed for road use.

    "I never once took a computer or electronics course," he said. "I'm just a big kid."

For more information about the centers, log onto     www.HighTechScience.org or call (561) 750-7000.