I’ve been lucky enough in recent years to travel to three dozen countries on four continents. Over the next several weeks I’ll be science traveling in a handful of the great capitals of the world.
I got started on this trek a week or so ago in New York City. Technically it isn’t a capital, but if you asked any non-American (and perhaps most Americans) to name our greatest city they most likely would name New York. On this occasion I spent some touristy time at the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial, and the aircraft carrier Intrepid (which also has the Space Shuttle Enterprise).
But NYC is the beginning of my fall travels. Next up is a weekend in Paris, the capital of France:
Followed by a week in London, the capital of the UK:
To be followed immediately by Salt Lake City (the capital of Utah) for the SETAC meeting, where I’ll pick up an award. And then on to Gettysburg to attend a conference and commemorate Abraham Lincoln’s famous address.
Which reminds me that I skipped an event. On October 20th I’ll be the featured speaker for the Lincoln Group of DC. My topic is “Lincoln and Technology,” which allows me to blend my two favorite topics. Sign up now on the Lincoln Group web page.
I’ll have more from the road as connections allow, and many stories after my return(s).
David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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Patagonia is one of the most diverse geographies on Earth. It encompasses the lower end of South America, mostly in Argentina but also spanning Chile. As such it touches on two coastlines – the Atlantic on the Argentinian east and the Pacific on the Chilean west. The area goes from the high Andes, to the low scrubland plains, the large lake filled northwest, glaciers in the southwest, and coastlines of the southeast. Animals range from the ostrich-like choiques (CHOY-kas) and camel-like guanacos (WAN-a-coes) to snakes and penguins. Yes, penguins.
The road to Tenerife is paved with four inches of snow. At least, that was the case for this trip. So while the warmth of the largest Canary Island waited off the coast of Morocco, my plane sat in the Brussels airport buried in snowflakes. At first it seemed just a minor delay – only a half hour waiting for the bus to take us to the Airbus A320. Brussels had seen snow before, I reminded myself, and this didn’t seem like that much. The snow coming in on the train was 
Many years ago I lived in Bermuda for a college semester. There were 15 of us learning how to be marine biologists while living at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. For two months we studied, we dived, we snorkeled, we spent hours bent over equipment in the laboratory searching for microscopic parasites. Fun was had by all.
