MATTHEWS, NC, January 15, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to honor T.D. Burns with inclusion in Who's Who in the World. An accomplished listee, Mr. Burns celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Burns is a self-taught scientist, entrepreneur and inventor of educational products designed to make scientific study and investigation accessible to hobbyists and classrooms. Immediately after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, for which he served as a radar technician aboard amphibious landing ships in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. Due to the intense nature of his service, he had little time to pursue career and technical education while enlisted, and after his honorable discharge in 1946, he found it difficult to find employment that suited his talents. Naturally creative and inquisitive, Mr. Burns set up a small science laboratory in his home, and began what would grow into a lifetime of dedicated self-study in astronomy, geology and mineralogy, chemistry and earth sciences.
In 1961, Mr. Burns and his wife opened Science Hobbies Inc. in Charlotte, North Carolina, with $500 of seed money pooled from their savings. The store was the country's first science-focused retail hobby shop, and sparked his interest in designing his own educational products. By 1973, Mr. Burns has designed, patented and brought to market a teaching model of the atom, and he soon branched out into multimedia education with a series of more than a dozen multimedia slide presentations utilizing cutting-edge digital editing technology, as well as a series of educational coloring and activity books, including the bestselling "Rocks and Minerals Coloring Book." In 1983, he co-founded Science and Nature Distributors, bringing his initial vision to a national stage as the first science-focused retail educational products distributor in the United States.
From 1989 until his retirement in 2003, Mr. Burns maintained involvement as the president of Science Educational Products Inc., a clearinghouse organization for his product development and distribution efforts. He remains dedicated to scientific inquiry and mineral collecting, and has contributed specimens of fluorescent minerals to the Rotary Planetarium and Science Center and the North Carolina Minerals Museum. Moreover, Mr. Burns is the author and illustrator of "A Matter of the Heart," and dozens of instructional booklets and project guides on atomic structure, photography and other topics.
In recognition of his career contributions, Mr. Burns was nominated for the 2016 North Carolina Top Scientist Award, presented with a plaque and trophy as Anson County's Most Famous Scientist and Philanthropist. He was also recognized with the namesake T.D. Burns Recognition Day by the Hampton B. Allen Library. Mr. Burns is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.
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