One Comment

Abraham Lincoln Goes to Washington

  By

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the Whig candidate in 1846 and, as per a gentlemen’s agreement with other Whigs, served one term as a U.S. Congressman from December 1847 to March 1849.

This was Lincoln’s first time in Washington, D.C., or in any large city other than his brief flatboat visits to New Orleans. At the time, Washington was a mix of formal government buildings and run-down boarding houses, and was a constant quagmire of mud and filth. The roughly 40,000 inhabitants were squeezed into a District area newly shrunken by the return of the Alexandria portion south of the Potomac River to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Slavery pens sat within eyesight of the Capitol building, which was still capped by a rotting wood and copper dome. Lincoln and his family lived at Mrs. Sprigg’s boarding house on 1st Street SE in a spot now covered by the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Joining him were eight other members of Congress, all with abolitionist tendencies, so Lincoln likely had many interesting debates about slavery over the common dinner table.

Most of his congressional duties were mundane, such as answering letters from constituents and voting on appropriations, but Lincoln’s good humor and adeptness with a funny story ingratiated him with his fellow representatives. Not long after his arrival he wrote back to his law partner, William Herndon, that he was “anxious” to “distinguish” himself in this august body. Not content with merely making speeches on immaterial subjects, he chose to take on the President of the United States.

President James K. Polk had initiated a war with Mexico that would eventually result in the United States gaining territory encompassing present-day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. George Ashmun, a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives, offered an amendment to what had been expected as a perfunctory commendation to those who served in the war. The amendment proposed to add a coda to the resolution: “In a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States.” Lincoln voted in favor of the amendment, which passed 82 to 81.

Lincoln went a step further. Polk insisted Mexico had been the aggressor, but Whigs believed that was an invention to hide Polk’s desire to expand the United States (and, by extension, the area to which slavery could be instituted). Three days before Christmas, Lincoln introduced a series of eight interrogatories demanding President Polk identify the exact spot where Mexico had supposedly initiated the first bloodshed. Because Lincoln repeatedly asked the spot be identified, they became derisively known as the “spot resolutions.”

Not surprisingly, Polk completely ignored the impertinent demands of an unknown freshman representative from the western prairies. Lincoln pressed the point, and Polk continued to ignore him, as did virtually everyone in Congress. The spot resolutions faded away without any debate or action, but Lincoln had asserted himself as unafraid to challenge even the highest authorities. He showed the integrity and determination to change the status quo and make things right. Later the spot resolutions would come back to haunt him when Democrats ridiculed him as “spotty Lincoln,” which may have hurt his chances to get a land office patronage job.

Lincoln immersed himself in other issues during his one term in Congress, including his proposal for emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia (although it was never formally introduced or passed). After his first session he toured New England campaigning for Zachary Taylor as the Whig nominee for president, even though Taylor had been a hero of the Mexican War. He then took a roundabout route past Niagara Falls through the Great Lakes by steamship, and along the newly opened Illinois and Michigan Canal on his way back to Springfield. He was essentially removed from politics for several years while he focused on his family and his law practice.

[Adapted from my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Thomas Alva Edison Died Today

  By

Edison: The Inventor of the Modern WorldIn the early morning hours of October 18, 1931, Thomas Alva Edison passed away peacefully in his Glenmont mansion in West Orange, New Jersey, not far from the laboratory where he had toiled many long days for many long years. He was 84 years old and had been inventing for seven decades. His health had been failing for months and by this time he had struggled with the cumulative effects of diabetes, Bright’s disease, stomach ulcers, and uremic poisoning, the final stages of kidney failure. His family was by his side, though he seemed only to recognize Mina, his wife of the last 42 years.

His legacy was immediately obvious to everyone. The sculptor James Earle Fraser, as was the fashion for famous people of the day, prepared a death mask and cast of Edison’s hands. His body lie in state in the library of the laboratory, and over 50,000 mourners passed by to pay their respects. After two days the casket was moved back to Glenmont for a private funeral. Besides Mina and the family, nearly 400 friends attended the service, including camping buddies Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, First Lady Lou Henry Hoover (representing the U.S. President), and many other friends. Sympathy letters were received from world dignitaries such as Pope Pius XI and German President Paul von Hindenburg, as well as from more notorious personages as fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Gus Winkler, an Al Capone hit man. Science magazine published a glowing obituary of the famed inventor, declaring him a “benefactor of humanity.”

Thomas A. Edison is buried behind the family home at Glenmont, a half mile from his West Orange Laboratory. The great inventor had died, but his inventive legacy would live on to this day.

[Adapted from my book, Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

One Comment

Abraham Lincoln and Allison Gustavson – My Endorsement

  By

Allison Gustavson“As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew,” said Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War. “The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present.” Change is hard, but there are times when change is necessary. This is one of those times.

I was born and raised in Ipswich and it will always be my home town. My father was born in Rowley, my mother Manchester, and they have lived the last 65 years in Ipswich. Much of my extended family continues to live in Ipswich, Hamilton, Manchester, Rowley, Topsfield, and Wenham. These towns mean the world to them, and to me. Which is why I am endorsing Allison Gustavson to represent the Fourth Essex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Allison is driven not by party, but by service to the community. Witnessing the national tragedy of September 11, 2001 from the streets below the twin towers inspired her to study elementary education. This background helped her understand the value of educating all students, a value she shares with Abraham Lincoln. Her service with the Manchester Council-on-Aging has helped her bridge the needs of the elderly with the energy of the younger generations. Allison believes “our communities are strongest when we all have the opportunities to engage with and learn from each other.” She has proven this in every aspect of her life and through founding an organization that encourages and facilitates local citizen participation in democracy. 

With family roots in Ipswich and living in the Fourth Essex district, Allison understands the local needs of the people. As a businesswoman, she understands how choices made locally and in the legislature affect the economy and the livelihoods of the business community. As a woman, she brings much needed insight to the questions that affect women, families, and businesses. Lincoln, too, understood the needs of the people. He insisted on meeting with a steady stream of common men and women daily in his White House office. He called these meetings his “public-opinion baths,” which he used to keep in touch with the views of the people. Allison has emulated this by meeting with everyone in all walks of life no matter what their political preferences. Doing so keeps her in touch with the public sentiment, which Lincoln knew “is everything.”

Growing up in the shadow of Castle Hill, working at Crane Beach, biking through Bradley Palmer, and canoeing on the Ipswich River led me to a career in environmental science. As a scientist I appreciate Allison’s commitment to protecting the natural beauty that is of such critical importance to the Fourth District, as well as dealing with the realities of climate change and protecting worker safety. Choate Bridge, the Heard and Whipple Houses, and the inspired history of the region led me also to the world of Abraham Lincoln, so I recognize that we live in troubling times. “The occasion is piled high with difficulty,” Lincoln said, but also knew that “we must rise” to meet the challenge. Allison provides an opportunity to change our politics, to work with all parties – not just one party – to address the very real issues facing all the communities of the district.

“We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country,” Lincoln added. As Lincoln was the best choice to lead our nation through its greatest trial, I believe Allison Gustavson is the best choice to help pave the way for the future of the region. She will represent all men, women, and children of the Fourth Essex District. I am confident that Allison is the right person at the right time to bring us together for the good of all of us. On November 6th, I hope you vote for Allison Gustavson to represent the Fourth Essex District of Massachusetts.

For more information about Allison, please visit her website at www.allisongustavson.com. 

 

[Those who follow me know I have not endorsed a political candidate before. But as Lincoln said, we must “be active, when action is needed.” I believe action is needed.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Visiting Sarah Lincoln – Lincoln State Park, Indiana

  By ,

Lincoln State Park, Lincoln City, IndianaDirectly across the road from the Lincoln Boyhood National Monument in the aptly named Lincoln City, Indiana is Lincoln State Park. I paid the $9 out of state entrance fee and went to visit with Sarah Lincoln, Abraham’s sister.

Sarah was born two years and two days before Abraham. Their younger sibling, Thomas Jr., died a few days after his birth, so Abraham always looked up to and cherished his older sister, especially after their mother died and Sarah became for a time the woman of the family at age eleven. Sarah married Aaron Grigsby when she was eighteen, but died during childbirth a year and half later. 

So my visit was to see Sarah’s grave. Winding through the wood-lined roads of the State Park I found the Little Pigeon Primitive Baptist Church where the family attended services. Abraham served as church sexton, responsible for maintaining the church property, ringing the bell for services, and digging graves. Behind the church is Old Pigeon Cemetery, which holds the final resting place for many of the first families of the Little Pigeon Creek settlement. Sarah’s gravestone was one of the first in the cemetery, and one of the most prominent. It’s certainly one of the cleanest, maintained pristine for Lincoln pilgrims, who often leave pennies – featuring Abraham Lincoln’s profile – on the relief flower bough that adorns the center of the stone.

Lincoln State Park, Lincoln City, Indiana

Her husband Aaron Grigsby’s gravestone is there too. In contrast to Sarah’s, Aaron’s stone is a small obelisk darkened by age and lack of maintenance. I suppose the reflects their relative positions in American history.

On my way out of the park I stopped at an area I had spied on the way in listed rather unhelpfully as the “Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza.” The plaza was dedicated in 2009, the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. From the parking lot all you can see is trees, but as you follow the short path you suddenly find yourself viewing a small plaza with a semi-circular stone monument. With help from the ample signage, you realize that the roughened portions of the stone in front of you represents Abraham’s height for each of the fourteen formative years he lived in Indiana.

Around the back is another surprise. What seems like a circular monument on one side turns out to be only half a circle. The back side features a half statue of Lincoln in front of a wall engraved with the Gettysburg Address and the proration from his Second Inaugural Speech. On the statue’s base, the sculptor, Will Clark, explains the positioning of the hands:

Lincoln’s closed left hand symbolizes his desire to hold the Union together, and his open right hand symbolizes his desire for a strong, positive, post-war reconciliation with the South.

There is more to see in Lincoln State Park, including a Lincoln amphitheater and other areas related to Lincoln. After the park, I headed north. Tomorrow would be a research day in the library. More on that next. Meanwhile, for more on my Chasing Abraham Lincoln travels, follow the link and scroll down.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

One Comment

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial – Going Back in Time

  By ,

Lincoln Boyhood National MemorialDuring my Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trips this summer I covered areas where Lincoln was born, raised, became an adult, and debated the politics of the day. My last stop was in Rockport, Indiana. Today I move on to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. This stop was truly going back in time.

The site, run by the National Park Service, consists of two distinct areas connected by a large wooded area lined with hiking trails. When you first enter the site you find a large curved memorial building. Inside is the park service information center, some informative museum displays, a tiny store, and a small theater where they show a historical movie of Lincoln’s boyhood in Indiana. The outside of the building is covered from end to end with a series of sculptured relief panels by E.H. Daniels marking important periods in Lincoln’s life. Selected quotes from Lincoln are also carved into the building.

Lincoln Boyhood National MemorialFrom here there is a short walk up a landscaped tree-line allee to the gravesite of Nancy Hanks Lincoln designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. Lincoln’s mother had died in 1818 of what was called “milk sickness,” later to be associated with cows eating the toxic white snakeroot plant. Her grave remained unmarked until a permanent marker was erected in 1879.

From here another short walk through the woods takes you to the Lincoln cabin site memorial. Researchers located and marked the site in 1917; another nineteen years passed before the State of Indiana excavated the site and found the remains of sill logs and a stone hearth. A bronze casting was created to fit the outline of the cabin’s foundation and that is what visitors can now see. Ironically, the Lincoln’s never actually lived in the cabin. This would have been the third cabin built by Thomas Lincoln and his family, but before it was completely he abruptly decided to leave Indiana and move to Illinois. The cabin was never finished.

Next is the second part of the two distinct areas – the Living Historical Farm. A log cabin, smokehouse, woodworking shed, and animal pens have been recreated and rangers dressed in period clothing perform a variety of activities typical of daily life during the time the Lincoln’s lived there. I spoke with several of the period performers who explained the ins and outs of life on the frontier farm. I learned that various tubers and squash are stored in the attic or buried, that candles could be made either from bee’s wax or rendered beef fat, and that mattresses were made from burlap bags filled with leaves or horsehair (or in some cases, wool). One man explained how pork was cured in the smokehouse; another showed me how various farm tools and furniture were made in the woodworking shed.

But I wasn’t finished. One of the many highlights is a walking trail called the “Trail of Twelve Stones.” It begins near the Living Historical Farm and winds through the forest, ending eventually near the pioneer cemetery. Along the trail you’ll encounter a series of twelve stones that have some significance to Lincoln’s life, all transported to this location and set with small bronze plaques explaining their significance. For example, there is a stone from Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Another stone comes from the foundation of the Berry-Lincoln store in New Salem. There are stones from the White House, from Mary Lincoln’s home in Kentucky, from the Lincoln Cottage, from where he delivered the Gettysburg Address, and from a variety of other sites associated with Lincoln. The final stone of the twelve is a memorial to Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

To cap off my visit a park ranger excitedly hurried out to my direction as I returned to the visitor center. “Look up,” he yelled, pointing at a raptor soaring above the trees. “It’s a Mississippi kite,” he explained. “Very rare here in Indiana. We have a pair nesting in the park. There’s another pair nesting in the State Park across the road.”

And with that unexpected but thrilling end to my visit at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, I hopped back in my car and headed across the road to Lincoln State Park. I had a date there with Lincoln’s sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

6 Comments

Thar Be Bears – Glacier National Park

  By

I recently returned from a road trip beginning at Crater Lake, Oregon, traipsing up the coast, up the Columbia River Gorge, and finally to Glacier National Park in Montana. And thar be bears on the trip.

Glacier National Park has lost most of its glaciers. Of the more than 100 present when it was made a park in 1910, only 26 remain as “active glaciers.” Climate change is hastening the demise. There is, however, still wildlife in the park (though that too has diminished). In particular are bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and black bears (Ursus americanus).

Glacier National Park

We saw the first bears – a mother and two cubs – snoozing on a sandy riverbank along the Many Glacier road. Because of the ongoing fires in the center of the park, we had to drive all the way around from the western side along the southern edge and up the eastern side of the park. It was here that we determined the inadequacy of our binoculars and camera equipment. Luckily we found a delightful gentleman who let us gaze up close and person through his powerful spotting scope. This trio of bears were a bit distant from the road so my photos aren’t perfect, but you can see the coloration of one of the two cubs is more silver than that of the mother black bear and the other cub. Black bears can be all black, have some silver or brown markings, or even all brown (not to be confused with brown bears, which are a different species and include the subspecies we know as “grizzly bears; I know, it’s complicated).

Earlier, on the Going to the Sun road in the center of the park we could make it as far as Logan Pass, after which the road was closed almost all the way to the western gate. Logan Pass is home to the highest point in the park and location of the Continental Divide marker at 6,646 feet. But our attention was grabbed by movement on the hillside – bighorn sheep. The most obvious characteristic is the namesake big horns on males. The horns themselves can weigh up to 30, a full tenth of their 300 pound total weight. The ones we saw were the Rocky Mountain bighorn, a subspecies commonly found in the area. Two other subspecies – the Sierra Nevada bighorn and Desert bighorn are found further south and are currently endangered.

Glacier National Park

Back on Many Glacier road we stopped outside the entrance to a park hotel. Up on the hill we saw another mother black bear with her two cubs. These again showed the light silvery touches to the shoulders and rump. They pretty much ignored us and other bear gawkers as they filled their bellies with grass and bushes. We think of bears as being carnivores, but most of their diet is vegetation. In September they are likely searching for hazelnuts, acorns, pine nuts, or berries such as huckleberries.

We didn’t see many other animals on the trip. No grizzly bears, no lynx, not even any mountain goats (the park’s symbol), moose, coyotes, or deer. We didn’t see any, but we clearly smelled skunk, another park regular. But we were satisfied to see the large group of bighorn sheep and two sets of bear trios. At least until the next time.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

4 Comments

Oregon Adds Two New Aquariums to My Life List

  By ,

Seaside AquariumA recent road trip along the coast of Oregon added two new aquariums to my life list, now sitting at 52 aquariums worldwide. The two new ones couldn’t be any more different, but each was spectacular in its own way.

Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR

Newport is considered a small city, although it has a population approximately that of my home town, something over 10,000 people. Sitting on the coastline near the Hatfield Marine Science Center, this is the perfect spot for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Acreage-wise, the aquarium is fairly equally split between indoor and outdoor exhibits.

Indoors are a series of buildings or rooms displaying different types of coastal ecosystems, e.g., sandy and rocky shores and coastal waters. There is also a large hall called “Big Bites” with information on larger fish. All this is after walking through a hall called “Secrets of the Shipwrecks” that takes advantage of the habitats created by offshore wrecks from previous ages. All of this is well done and amply communicated with signs and displays.

Outside are more “natural” habitats for sea otters, sea lions and harbor seals, an octopus cave, and seabird aviary. The otter feeding show was well done and easy to observe, but the sea lion area was too cramped and too far away to even glimpse the animals, which meant hoards of people jostling to try to see anything and completely ignoring the curator explanations. Likewise, the octopus loved is cave so much he couldn’t be seen by anyone no matter how much the tried. There is no “Central Tank,” but from the outside you also go into another building with three short walk-through viewing tubes where you could see fish from “Halibut Flats,” the “Open Sea,” and “Orford Reef.” Exiting this area (through an event room and small store) was a very short nature trail where you could look out over the Yaquina Bay Estuary, the harbor bridge, and the edge of the Hatfield Marine Lab, with which the aquarium has a research relationship.

Overall it was a nice aquarium with a lot to offer.

Seaside Aquarium, Seaside, OR

The contrast with the Seaside Aquarium is stark. Sitting at the end of a dead-end road fronting onto a wide resort beach, the Aquarium is marked by a huge sign that offers no doubt about where you are: AQUARIUM. It’s one of the oldest aquariums on the west coast, founded in 1937, and privately owned. Descendants of the original founders still run the aquarium.

For most, the biggest attraction is the tank in the front of the building holding 8-10 seals. People can opt to pay an extra $2 (over the $8 admission fee) for a dish of small fish to feed to the seals. The seals are well versed in how to manipulate the people crowded into the narrow “splash area,” offering up a variety of barks, side slaps, and often rather obnoxiously, wild splashing onto the patrons, all in begging for the next fish to be tossed over the fence. In one way this was very entertaining and the main draw; in another, it was depressing to see so many seals within a small tank begging for food.

To me the best part of the aquarium was the part most visitors probably don’t spend enough time in. Behind the seal tank is one big room edged with tanks set into the wall. All of the fish seem to be Pacific coastal fish or from deeper waters. There is some repetition, e.g., there were wolf eels in at least four different tanks (for the record, wolf eels are not actually true eels, which the signage duly explains). There were some unique fish like staghorn sculpin, and several octopuses (to make up for not finding the one in Newport). The room also contained a small “touch tank” area, a table with tiny sea slugs, kelp cucumbers, and other organisms displayed in bubble glassware so they could be easily seen, and some scientific displays. I was most impressed with these latter. The owners had clearly done significant research into their displays and put up ample low-tech signage explaining not only what was in the tanks, but key ecological and scientific facts about them.

I had low expectations of what Seaside Aquarium would be about. Not only have I seen some of the biggest aquariums in the world, but I had earlier that day had a local tell me the aquarium wasn’t much to see. So I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I liked it. It’s small, for sure, but with the little they have they do an exceptional job making it into an educational experience. And, of course, you get to be splashed in cramped quarters by obnoxiously entertaining seals.

Check out more on my Aquariums page.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

2 Comments

Reflections of a Science Traveler Five Years On

  By , ,

Glacier National ParkIn the last quarter of my most recent 2000 mile road trip we met a lovely couple at a Montana rest stop. Gene and Jacque were sitting in foldable chairs next to their large RV camper when we pulled in to stretch our legs. As we talked about life I realized that very day – September 12th – was the 5-year anniversary of my science traveling life.

Five years ago I resigned from my well-paid environmental consulting position in Washington, D.C. My new life as a science traveler, writer, and Abraham Lincoln historian has been jam-packed with excitement, interesting locations, and mind-stimulating enrichment. I said then, and reiterate now, that it was the best decision I ever made.

Back when I was contemplating making the jump, I couldn’t help but worry about where and how much I might travel, whether anyone would read what I was writing, and how I would make ends meet financially. After all, I was giving up a good salary, adventuring into new intellectual territory, and traveling to places I never expected to travel. In some ways it was a big risk. And yet, as I wrote in my first anniversary reflections, “the stars aligned, angels’ voices rang down from the heavens,” so the risk wasn’t all that risky. I remind myself of this as my bank account and royalty check balances dwindle. 

There are times I think I’m not taking big enough, or fast enough, advantage of this post-salary time of my life. I could travel more, but that would mean less writing (I still haven’t mastered the art of writing while traveling). I could write more, but that would mean more obligation and less fun as I take on freelance jobs more for the money than the topic interest. I could do more with the Lincoln Group, but that greater responsibility comes with lessened flexibility. Overall, I think I’ve found a good balance.

So what have I been doing these five years? As the name of this website suggests, I’ve been science traveling. What does science traveling mean, you ask? Simple. I try to find the science in everywhere I travel, with science defined in the broadest sense. I don’t spend time in laboratories pouring chemicals (although I have been known to do that). And I don’t spend a week sitting on the same beach contemplating the same sand particles and clouds (some call this relaxing, to me it is stressful not to be moving). Instead, and with a career background ranging from marine biology to aquatic toxicology to environmental science to regulatory science I’m bound to find myself exploring the environmental aspects of my target location. For example, I was just along the Oregon coast where I noticed the similarities – and differences – between the rocky stacks there and the 12 Apostles off the southern coast of Australia. While in Crater Lake I marveled at the geology of the inside of a volcano. While in Pisa my mind wandered to the physics of Galileo dropping unequal weights off the Leaning Tower (not to mention the physics of what keeps the tower leaning and not toppling). Usually I try to read up on locations before visiting them, but I also do research on the locations once I return. I include these scientific aspects in my travel writing.

But my definition of science is broader than that. As a Lincoln historian I include getting to understand the local cultures (e.g., Serbian vs Croatian, Aborigine vs Maori vs Native American). As a science communicator – yet another interest in my diverse repertoire – I look for ways to best communicate the science to the public. Glacier National Park, for example, will soon have to be labeled “Historical Glacier National Park” as most of its glaciers have disappeared or shrunken to minimal levels. In contrast, the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina is one of only a few glaciers that is actually growing. Throw in a little Darwin and Patagonia becomes a much more interesting place than simply hundreds of kilometers of gravel roads. Mark Twain once said that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” I aim to prove that is true.

My travels have taken me to over 50 countries, so far. This past 12 months alone I have been to nine or ten countries and several areas of the United States. There was Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Finland, the Aland Islands, and Sweden on the international front, with Hong Kong, Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore coming up soon. Domestically, I’ve been to New England several times in the last year, including Maine, plus Sanibel Island in Florida and my most recent road trip through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. With three corners of the country covered I’m looking to make a road trip in the southwest U.S. soon.

This has been a busy year for my Abraham Lincoln side as well. In May, I finished up my term as Vice President of Programs of the Lincoln Group of DC, responsible for booking speakers for our monthly dinner meetings. I considered taking on ultimate leadership responsibility but opted to make a lateral move instead because of my travel and writing schedule. I’ve driven three increasingly intensive road trips as research for my book in progress. First a long weekend in Newport News for a “Battle of Hampton Roads” conference. Then a week-long drive through Lincoln’s early life in Tennessee/Kentucky/Indiana, with a stop in Michigan to see the rocking chair Lincoln was sitting in when assassinated. Finally, a 9-day Chasing Lincoln zigzag around Illinois to visit the seven Lincoln-Douglas debate sites, the I&M Canal, Rock Island, and two dozen or more Lincoln statues. I even got to see Lincoln and Douglas debate in person thanks to George Buss and Tim Connors. In the coming months I’ll make a few short day trips related to Lincoln, plus a few days in Chicago to check out more Lincoln sites (plus the famed Art Institute of Chicago).

The year wasn’t always great; there were some downer times too. My trips to New England were in part because my father has repeatedly made hospital and rehab stays as his body slowly gets weaker in his 92nd year. Then my Lincoln mentor and friend John Elliff passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Other drags on life also creaked into existence during the year, but overall, it was a very good year.

My writing has been both a highlight and a lowlight this year. My first book on Tesla is into its 8th printing and several foreign translations. Edison is essentially sold out and has been translated as well. My Lincoln book released last summer is into a 2nd edition and is likely to get a 3rd plus translations. I’m also working on three books, two on Lincoln and one a travel memoir. The lowlights? I’ve spread myself a bit thin so none of the books is progressing as fast as I intended. I also planned to submit more freelance article work this year but haven’t put much effort into following through on it. I specifically dropped my reading goal from 100 books to 75 this year, intending to spend the freed time writing. I’m now 3 books behind even the lower goal and haven’t shifted the time into writing as much as I planned. Some of this is because of traveling, and with a heavy travel schedule continuing through at least next summer, I’m not sure whether I’ll improve my reading or writing pace much in the near future. Still, I am writing. I just need to write more and faster.

As I reflect on five years of post-salary life it strikes me that I get two kinds of reactions. One is envy, as people who want to quit/retire/travel/write think the grass is greener on my side of the fence. The other is inspiration, as they see promise of greater fulfillment even while they are working. It simply takes making the time to do what you want. After five years I can still say I have no regrets about my decision.

No regrets whatsoever.

See my previous “Reflections” for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. This will be the last of these annual “Reflections” pieces unless something marvelous happens to warrant a special one. Of course, if one of my books becomes a million seller I won’t need to write these updates as you’ll be seeing me all over television and the internet. 🙂

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

No comments

Palouse Falls, Washington State

  By

Palouse Falls is in a remote area of eastern Washington state. Getting there requires several hours of driving on empty back roads, especially the way I arrived via the Columbia River Gorge (Ritzville, WA is about an hour away if you come from the east).

Here’s a few quick photos. More later.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

2 Comments

Nikola Tesla and the Invention of Bladeless Turbines

  By

Tesla Pot Belly cropWhen he was not taking on Einstein, Nikola Tesla was thinking about some of the fundamental “truths” of science. In one case he disagreed with the idea that turbines needed to have blades like a propeller to catch the air or water as they moved in a particular direction. Tesla had experimented with what would come to be called the bladeless turbine as far back as his youth when he played with waterwheels of his own invention. His updated version of a bladeless turbine could be used, Tesla mused, to power “automobiles, locomotives and steamships,” not to mention airplanes and ocean liners, all new creations of the modern world of the early twentieth century.

Tesla Bladeless TurbineTesla had begun working on bladeless turbines when he was consulting with the Westinghouse Company in Pittsburgh, but this project, like so many others, was put on hold while he toiled on his alternating current designs of high potential and high frequency. But in 1906 he gave himself a fiftieth birthday present by demonstrating his bladeless turbine in public. The basic design of the turbine relies on the principle of boundary layer flow, that is, where the movement of the liquid or gas passes over a series of smooth disks. Some of the liquid or gas adheres to the disks, which creates a vortex that spirals toward the center and spins the turbine. Tesla described it in an interview with the New York Herald in 1911:

“Now, suppose we make this metal plate that I have spoken of circular in shape and mount it at its centre on a shaft so that it can be revolved. Apply power to rotate the shaft and what happens? Why, whatever fluid the disk happens to be revolving in is agitated and dragged along in the direction of rotation, because the fluid tends to adhere to the disk and the viscosity causes the motion given to the adhering particles of the fluid to be transmitted to the whole mass.”

This resulted in very large power output for a very small size and weight. Because no projecting blades were needed, the turbine could withstand much greater pressures.

But that wasn’t the only unusual device he mentioned. More on that in the book.

[Adapted from Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, now into its 8th printing and translated into multiple languages.]

David J. Kent is the author Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World, plus two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His latest book is Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!