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Part II: York County community contributor compiling list of community contributors

 Henry L. Yeagley, community contributor
This story from the April 1948 edition of Popular Mechanics profiles former York countian Henry L. Yeagley of then Penn State College and his study of homing pigeons. Yeagley is another in a long line of scientists from York County. For more, see below. Also of interest: Part I: York County community contributor … .

Community leader Dan Meckley is compiling his lists of the known and unknown from York County who have achieved on the local and/or international stage.

One of those luminaries found in his work-in-progress is Henry L. Yeagley, a physicist at Penn State University.

Here’s what Time magazine says about Yeagley’s work in the article “The Physics of Pigeons,” on Sept. 1, 1947:

“How does a homing pigeon navigate, often over hundreds of miles of territory it has never seen before? Professor (of physics) Henry L. Yeagley of Pennsylvania State College thinks he has found the pigeony secret. Last week, on General Electric’s Science Forum broadcast, he described the pigeon experiments he has been doing for the Army Signal Corps.

“Yeagley began with the idea, not original with him, that a homing pigeon is equipped with some sort of “magnetic compasses,” i.e , some sensitivity to the earth’s magnetism. Yeagley tested this notion by fastening small…”

Dr. Yeagley is all but forgotten in York County, and Dan’s work has brought him into the public again.

Back to those York County scientists and scientific efforts. Here’s just a short list:

Add Larry Bowers name to long list of scientists with York County, Pa., links
Add Penn State researcher Herschel Leibowitz to long list of York countians who excelled in research.
Two women with York County, Pa., roots excelled in the medical laboratory
York, Pa.-born Edwin Shneidman, suicide prevention pioneer, dies in Los Angeles
Pennsylvanian Daniel Drawbaugh: ‘The Edison of the Cumberland Valley’
Area native shares Nobel for Medicine.
Few know it, but digital computing’s first pioneer George Stibitz was born in York, Pa.
York, Pa.-born Edwin Shneidman, suicide prevention pioneer, dies in Los Angeles.
Author with York County ties: Learned the brain inside and out in writing ‘How We Decide’
Who was Phineas Davis of York City school fame?.
Who was Edgar Fahs Smith of York City middle school fame?
Also:
York, Pa.’s link to the use of steroids in sports: ‘Pecs, pink pills and power’