what about the plastic animals?

Mr. Met Enjoys a Book

2005 is the centennial of Albert Einstein's "miraculous year" in which he published three papers which changed our fundamental understanding of how the world works.  The first paper proposed that light can act like a stream of discrete, independent particles of energy - the beginnings of quantum physics.  The second paper proposed an experimental test to show that heat could be explained by the agitated motion of atoms.  In the third, and most famous, paper, On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, Einstein set forth his special theory of relativity, which connected electromagnetic theory with ordinary Newtonian motion. In doing so he showed that the speed of light is constant and explained the relationship between mass and energy.

This centennial year has been designated the World Year of Physics.  Mr. Met is brushing up on his physics in honor of the anniversary .

Subway Division Does Not Compute

A little math at the West 4th St. station for everyone to contemplate. More work from this artist.

Nerdy Street Art

22nd St. between 6th and 7th.

Light Pole, Broome St., SoHo.

Upside-down rainbow?

Not an upside-down rainbow, but there was an upper tangent arc over Manhattan this morning. There must have been an ice crystal halo around the sun (I couldn't see it, and it doesn't show up in these photos). On rare occasions there will be arcs above and below the halo that curve in the opposite direction of the halo. The arcs form when sunlight is reflected through large hexagonal pencil-shaped ice crystals that have their long horizontal axes parallel to the ground. I knew that degree in meteorology would come in handy one day. Thank you, Dr. Chermak!

Two trees on campus

View of the Hudson looking toward Dobbs Ferry.

Big Tree.

I work at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory campus, located on the former weekend estate of Thomas W. Lamont in Palisades, NY. In the 19th century the estate was owned by John Torrey, a renowned Columbia botanist and chemist. Torrey planted part of the grounds as his own private botanical garden. The Olmstead landscaping firm designed the grounds for Lamont in the mid-20th century.

Trees From Space

NASA's Earth Observatory has a nice satellite-derived image of trees.