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Posts from the ‘Science’ category

Vienna Albertina: Brigitte Kowanz, light is what she saw

Above/featured: “Light is what we see”, 1994/2019. (A part of Speed of Light/4m with the digits 6-3 appears at the right edge.)

Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz (1957–2022) held an enduring fascination for light. Light wasn’t simply the medium through which information propagated. Light itself was also a tool and mould for illumination, reflection, and even introspection. There’s something in her light-based artworks which allude not only to her philosophy and worldview, but also to her clear interest for science. Her works also anticipate and explore timely themes, including what it means to live in an information-rich society that fully embraces digital habitats and virtual spaces. There’s a spirit of fun and “lightness” mixed with a serious appreciation for the history of technology with her frequent use of Morse code. To me, Kowanz’s body of work is a wonderful manifestation of the 1964 statement by Canadian philosopher and media theorist Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message.”

I arranged my 2025 stay in Vienna to coincide with the final week of the Francesca Woodman exhibition and the beginning of an exhibition on Brigitte Kowanz, both held at the Albertina gallery-museum. Since Kowanz’s passing in 2022, the first major solo exhibition was a retrospective of her work titled “Light is what we see”. The Albertina has fast become a favourite, having seen an exhibition of photographer Gregory Crewdson’s work in the summer of 2024.

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The strange and familiar (BA11)

(nerding out at SETI)

I hadn’t seen J and J in almost 13 years.

The last time took place in La Serena, Chile at the end of 2011. Not only was it goodbye to Gemini South and Chile after 5 years, I said farewell to astronomy after almost 20 years.

But time is a tricky thing, and the moment had arrived: I had another promise to keep.

Fast forward to 2024, and I’m in the Bay Area. After reaching out a number of weeks ago, it’s wonderful to see them again after many years. They’ve kindly invited me to the SETI Institute where they work. I split from day-to-day science, but science never left, because I’m nerding out in a big way at the home of a big scientific effort: the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

*Cozy wide-open space, to house a number of multidisciplinary scientists to explore and study SETI themes.*

*J&J, whom I met at Gemini, moved onto SOFIA: Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, fitted into a modified Boeing 747SP.*

*Dr. Frank Drake: 1st pres., SETI trustees board.*

*I’m nerding out in a big way: Leonhard Euler, and the famous Euler identity: e^(i•pi) = -1.*

1593: Giordano Bruno suggests possibility of life on other planets; tried & executed for heresy. 1610: Galileo Galilei discovers 4 moons orbiting Jupiter, evidence against geocentric universe; convicted of heresy & sentenced to house arrest.

I have fond memories of seeing this on the big screen. 1997: the movie “Contact” is released with Jodie Foster in the lead role as Dr. Ellie Arroway, based loosely on SETI Institute co-founder Dr. Jill Tarter.

*“To the SETI Institute gang, all my best! Jodie Foster.” (Arecibo)*

*“To the SETI Institute: live long and prosper! Leonard Nimoy.” (Celebrating 40 Years of the Drake Equation)*

*2020: COSMIC SETI installed at the VLA in New Mexico. 2022:* 🇨🇦 *CHIME in operation at SETI Institute’s HCRO in northern California.*

*Model of a segment for the 6.5-metre (21.3-foot) primary mirror of the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope).*

*Meeting room with SETI timeline on the wall.*

*Dr. Frank Drake and his equation to estimate the number of civilizations in our Galaxy.*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 8 Nov 2024 (travel day 11 in the Bay Area). This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Drumheller AB: badlands, dinosaurs, oh my!

(Relatively short drive from Calgary)

In south-central Alberta, a leisurely 1.5 to 2 hour drive northeast from Calgary takes me past trucks, farm equipment, drilling rigs; through undulating hills and open fields of grain.

Population at a touch under 9-thousand, the city straddles the gentle flow of the Red Deer River. I’m led here by the notable attractions, and integrated over a couple of days here, they do not disappoint.

*“Welcome to Drumheller”: sign and pullout next to highway AB-9, on approach into town from the south. Photo, 25 Sep 2024.*

Aurora borealis, 49°N: 11 Oct 2024

Northern lights over New West

Notices quickly went out, even saw alerts from scientists whom I follow on social media. Big solar storm detected, big aurora display expected.

The colours: reds & blue-greens for oxygen & nitrogen, respectively.

Structure: pillars, curtains, wavy strands.

Location: New Westminster, BC 🇨🇦 ; 49.2° North, 122.9° West.

Time: from about 12am to 1am PDT (7 to 8h UTC), on 11 October 2024.

*Northwest horizon, 0003h PDT. Visible: Vega (Lyra), Draco, Ursa Minor.*

*East horizon, 0010h PDT. Visible: Jupiter, Aldebaran (Taurus), Pleiades, Cetus, Orion.*

*Northeast horizon, 0027h PDT. Visible:*

*East horizon (towards the Port Mann Bridge), 0030h PDT.*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 11 Oct 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Vienna: Ludwig Boltzmann was here

The name is a large presence, particularly to many in science.

To others, the name might have little significance as any other name, like Helmut Grossuhrmacher. OK, I made that name up.

A name I didn’t make up is Ludwig Boltzmann, whose contributions to science are fundamental in an understanding of heat- or thermal-physics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. After several years of undergraduate- and graduate-level physics, Boltzmann is one of many names imprinted into memory, firmly established in the left-side of my brain.

Boltzmann highlights

• b/✵ 20 February 1844 – d/✟ 5 September 1906.
• Born and raised in Vienna, Boltzmann enroled at age 19 in the University of Vienna to study mathematics and physics.
• Supervised by Josef Stefan, Boltzmann completed his doctoral dissertation “Über die mechanische Bedeutung des zweiten Hauptsatzes der mechanischen Wärmetheorie” (On the mechanical significance of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) in 1866 at the age of 22.
• 1869–1873: University of Graz, with visits to Heidelberg and Berlin.
• 1873–1876: University of Vienna.
• 1876–1890: University of Graz.
• 1890–1894: (Ludwig Maximilian) University of Munich.
• 1894–1900: after Josef Stefan’s retirement, Boltzmann returns as professor of mathematics and physics at University of Vienna.
• 1900–1902: Leipzig University.
• 1902–1906: University of Vienna; he also teaches physics, mathematics, and philosophy.
• Doctoral students Boltzmann supervised and advised included: Paul Ehrenfest, Lise Meitner, Stefan Meyer, Walther Nernst.
• Speaking tour of the United States in 1905, including his stay that summer in Berkeley at the University of California. Evident from his trip report, Reise eines deutschen Professors ins Eldorado, is his sense of humour.

Time has been kind to Vienna, a city filled with notable personalities in arts, architecture, music, and science. Throughout its cemeteries, the city has assigned “graves of honour” (Ehrengrab) for many, including Boltzmann. Finding his final spot was one of many favourite moments in 2018. However, Boltzmann’s significance to the University of Vienna, to the physics world, and to time I spent in physics persuaded me to create a short (walking-)tour of Vienna to highlight some of his traces and memorialization in the city.

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