Wizard of the Outer Lab

About the Book

The author tells about his life history of inventing and adventures while growing up in a small town. The seriousness and laughter from his many stories will keep you glued to the book following the memoirs of his life and the well connected people he met along the way. As a high school dropout with a scientific mind, they said that he would never amount to a ÒHill of BeansÓ. Harry never paid much attention to the colloquial remarks people made about his unorthodox activities. He does admit that he was somewhat of a gypsy in his early years. From the Outer Lab in the Laurel Mountains of Pennsylvania he describes in dramatic narratives the mystic technology of his practical inventiveness and adventurous journeys around the world. The adventures began in the cold arctic and take you into the secret world of Cape Canaveral and onward to other parts of the globe. You will enter periods of his business life that leads to prosperity from the millions of dollars he earned from his inventions.

About the Author

Harry Sampey cracks technological problems the way other people crack eggs. A successful entrepreneur and inventor with over forty patents to his credit, Sampey is a self-taught electronics engineer, businessman, and philanthropist. His beginnings were storybook: he grew up in poverty in the small Pennsylvania town of Perryopolis during the depression. Roaming the countryside, Sampey developed a sense of exploration and curiosity about how things worked, especially electronic things.

He is a high school dropout who later in life earned a doctorate in electronic engineering. As a young man, he joined the U.S. Air Force to help support his family. After a career of six and a half years, he entered civilian life and ended up out west with a new invention that provided television to small communities. He moved on to Cape Canaveral as a member of the Vanguard rocket lunch team to put America's first satellite into orbit. Working as an electrical engineer under a NASA contract, he was given the NASA Space Science Award for co-design of the lunar geophysics survey camera. Over the following years, with many more inventions, he turned his attention to business, building Nu-Metrics, a global company known for its road measuring instruments using proprietary technology in gauging distance, reading road conditions, and monitoring highway traffic.

But business pulled him away from his first love—doing research. He didn't want to retire either. "You retire, you die", he says. Among his philanthropies, he funded development of a community park in Perryopolis that bears his name. The townspeople use it to stage many events and an annual festival called Pioneer Days.

His work philosophy is simple. "You have to do whatever you like doing the best. If you like what you're doing, then you'll be the best." Always known as a lab rat, he set himself up in an Outer Lab Research Center; a combination of a fishing lodge and laboratory that is surrounded by Mountain Laurel, a gushing creek, wildlife, and all nestled in a secluded valley near Farmington, Pennsylvania.

There, he continues cracking problems to satisfy his curiosity and feed his need for research.

An affirmed workaholic, Sampey still finds time each day to exercise and "have a lot of fun." A perpetual grin on his face, he refuses to think negatively and is effusive about whatever his latest project may be.

A sign over Sampey's crowded lab bench reflects his philosophy.

"Innovation is a product of persistent illusion leading to poverty more often than prosperity."