science

Gertie the Duck

Gertie the Duck is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gertie the Duck rather than just read about it. In short: Gertie the Duck is an icon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin history and the subject of a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) bronze sculpture by American artist Gwendolyn Gillen. It was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in September 1997.

Key takeaways

Gertie the Duck belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gertie the Duck to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gertie the Duck from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gertie the Duck is an icon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin history and the subject of a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) bronze sculpture by American artist Gwendolyn Gillen. It was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in September 1997. The story of her heroic efforts to hatch six ducklings became an inspiration for many war-weary Americans near the end of World War II. Gertie's story unfolded as a daily serial in the local newspaper for 37 days, captivating the residents of Milwaukee, the state and eventually the country.

History Gertie's story began in April 1945 when Milwaukee Journal outdoor writer Gordon MacQuarrie reported that a mallard duck was nesting on a wood piling under the Wisconsin Avenue bridge. A total of nine eggs were laid and the duck kept vigil atop her nest despite throngs of visitors and motorists stopping on the bridge daily to check the progress of the expectant mother. Mother's Day cards began arriving for the mallard, the Boy Scouts formed a Gertie Patrol and a Wisconsin Humane Society officer was stationed to watch the brood as six of the nine eggs eventually produced chicks. Public interest continued to swell as wire services picked up MacQuarrie's stories. Gertie and her nest were photographed by the Journal and local rival Milwaukee Sentinel, featured in Life Magazine and even had a front-page story in the United Kingdom's Daily Express. Reader's Digest ran a story on Gertie entitled "The Duck That Made Milwaukee Famous". Despite flooding, storms and fire on some nearby pilings, five ducklings and Gertie survived the ordeal and were put on public display in the nearby Gimbels department store windows, where more than 2 million visitors peered in to see the famous feathered family. The ducks were later relocated to the Juneau Park lagoon on Milwaukee's lakefront.

Popular culture

The first book based on Gertie's story was The Story of 'Gertie', published by the Journal in July 1945 and based on its daily coverage. The book sold out three printings before being re-printed by New York's Rinehart & Co. in 1946. That same year, Milwaukee toymaker Earl F. Wendt produced a wooden toy duck named for the famous mallard. In 1959, Nicholas P. Georgiady and Louis G. Romano, two Milwaukee-area teachers, wrote a children's book titled Gertie the Duck. The book was reissued in 1988 after selling more than 800,000 copies and translated into six languages. Gertie's story was also told in an episode of GE True in 1963 entitled "Gertie the Great", featuring Jan Shepard as a reporter assigned to cover the hatching eggs.

Sculpture Gertie the Duck is a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) bronze sculpture of the mallard duck created by sculptor Gwendolyn Gillen. The original cost of the sculpture was $15,000, and it was given to the city by the Eppstein Uhen Architects firm and installed in September 1997. It stands on the northwest side of the Wisconsin Avenue bridge over the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee. The sculpture is part of the art displays called RiverSculpture!

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gertie the Duck

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gertie the Duck claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gertie the Duck before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gertie the Duck ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gertie the Duck

In research: Gertie the Duck appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gertie the Duck in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gertie the Duck is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 in Wisconsin, 1997 establishments in Wisconsin, 1997 sculptures, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gertie the Duck outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gertie the Duck in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gertie the Duck means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gertie the Duck out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gertie the Duck in simple terms?

Why does Gertie the Duck matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gertie the Duck?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gertie the Duck.