Tag: Science Traveler

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Around the Blogs

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A lot is going on…and planning is in progress for a lot more. To get everyone up to date here is a quick round up of the blogs.

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Hot White Snow: A place for my more creative writing endeavors, writing prompt responses, erotica, science fiction, a couple of specialty series, and articles on how to improve the reader’s writing life.

Recent posts include an intriguing Microfiction post marrying Bogie, Bacall, and the Old West, plus an “On Writing” episode focused on Writing Through Writer’s Block.

Air and Water GaugesThe Dake Page: A science blog focused on communicating science to the general populace, examining climate change (both the science and the denial), and providing relevant book reviews.

Recent posts include the role of climate science in the State of the Union address and the upcoming election year, plus parsing the arrogance of ignorance in climate denial.

...and Tesla TV

Science Traveler: My author website focused on non-fiction books (Tesla, Edison, Lincoln), plus tips and tales about traveling the world.

Recent posts include the Aquarium in New Orleans, the connection between Davie Bowie and Nikola Tesla (hint: The Prestige), and a combined post on how my preparation for an upcoming trip to Machu Picchu reminds me of a previous trip into Argentinian Patagonia.

There is much more beyond this, including many activities with the Lincoln Group of DC, the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, a lot of book reading, and even more book writing.

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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Science Traveling – 2016 in Preview

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I’m going to Machu Picchu in 2016. Of course, I said I was going to Machu Picchu in 2015 and had to punt on it to this year. But this year I’m really going. I hope. Like last year, my plans could easily change, but here is what I’m planning for 2016.

Wind SurfThe only trip actually booked so far is a sailing cruise of the Caribbean in late January/early February. We’ll meet four Saints (Maarten, Kitts, Barthelemy, and Lucia), plus Barbuda, Guadaloupe, and Dominica. All while sailing point to point on a 535-foot sailboat.

Beyond that we’re looking at two other overseas trips – one to the aforementioned Machu Picchu in May, the other to China (and hopefully one other country) in October. If it all works out I’ll get to add at least six new countries to my visited list (last year I added only 3, though I was in 6 outside the U.S.).

I’ll also have my annual trip to New England to visit my parents, plus perhaps a second trip for my high school reunion. I’ve never attended a reunion before but this year I just might. It’s not until August so we’ll see when it gets closer.

Lincoln TombSpringfield, Illinois may see me twice this year. I have a scheduled trip there in September with the Lincoln Group of DC, in which we’ll pursue Lincoln’s memory through New Salem, Springfield, and points surrounding. I’m also anticipating a purely research trip, probably in March, to visit with the staffs of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Lincoln is also the focus of a November trip to Gettysburg.

Closer to home, I will likely have a book launch party in August to celebrate the release of my newest book Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World.

Those are the more-or-less planned trips. Others may include Orlando for the SETAC meeting in November, Charlottesville for the CPRC meeting in April, Mt. Rushmore (still trying to squeeze this in at some point), and Newport News, VA (home of the Monitor ironclad).

I’ll be writing many science traveling articles during 2016 so check back regularly.

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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Reconstructing Bermuda

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David at Sandy HookMany 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.

As my old classmates responded to my recent “Barracuda of Walsingham Bay” post on Hot White Snow I realized that there are a million stories to tell. I also realized that those stories fit better here on Science Traveler. So along with other science traveling stories I’ll be reconstructing those Bermuda experiences.

To catch everyone up on the story, the following were two I posted on my creative writing blog, Hot White Snow. Click on the titles to read the full articles. I’ll follow with more on a regular basis. Who knows; some day it might make a good book.

The Barracuda of Walsingham Bay, Bermuda

Each of us were required to do a field research project of our own design. Mine was to examine the epibiota on mangrove roots in Walsingham Pond, with a comparison site in Walsingham Bay. I gathered data by snorkeling around both locations and writing my findings on waterproof tablets (the plasticized paper kind, long before iPad-type tablets). A barracuda full of teeth and curiosity followed me around the Bay. It was unnerving, and yet at the same time exhilarating. [Read more]

Bailey’s Bay Slide

Our main mode of transportation around the island was by small motor scooters called moped. While seemingly innocuous, they played central roles in several incidents, including one that makes my knee throb to this day. One day after a light rain we set out on a research expedition that turned out to be more eventful than we anticipated. This is why. [Read more]

I’ll have a lot more on our time in Bermuda. There are many stories about the science, but also many about a bunch of college kids in a semi-tropical island (think “The Real World” before MTV), and even more stories of love and intrigue.

I hope that my colleagues on that trip  – Pat Arszyla, Mark Blake, Mike Calabrese, Ed Carver, Ken Foote, Eric Henderson, Joan Kwiatkoski, Sandy Mazzo, Pat Piccirilli, Nancy Rigotty, Sue Schurman, George Skalski, CeCe Spinella, Pablo Vigliano; our professors Dr. Bob Singletary and Dr. Dean Christanson; and Bermuda Biological Station Director Wolfgang Sterrer and other instructors  – will enjoy the memories. I’ve had the privilege to reconnect with some of them after all these years. If anyone has kept in touch with those I haven’t, I would appreciate getting reintroduced.

[A quick note about the photo. It was taken a few years after Bermuda while I worked as a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service at Sandy Hook, NJ. I was tagging flounder on a cold winter’s day. It was a good day to be a marine biologist, just before the laboratory burned to the ground. But, that’s another story.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Science Traveling – 2015 in Preview

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Expect to see a few changes on Science Traveler in 2015. I’m looking at a new landing page, new focus on current and upcoming books, and a greater emphasis on science traveling itself.

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This past year had some great traveling – Argentinian glaciers, Giant Sequoias, and quaint villages. There was also my annual science conference (Vancouver) and my first of what will be annual Lincoln conferences (Gettysburg). The year 2015 will see me in at least three new countries…and a rock in the middle of nowhere.

The rock is where I start. Next week I’ll fly to Miami, then drive out to the Everglades, snorkel in Biscayne Bay, drive all the way to Key West, and board a float plane to get to the rock – Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Not only is the reef beautiful, but the place is where the four convicted conspirators from Abraham Lincoln’s assassination were imprisoned (the ones that weren’t hung). So the trip is both science and Lincoln, always a great combination.

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The following week will find me in New York City doing some research for the next book. I may be back in The City in April for a writing conference.

Early June (or perhaps late August) should see me in Scandinavia. When I was living in Brussels I saw a lot of Europe, including Finland, but I never made it to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. This year I’m making it. Details are still being worked out and should include Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo, as well as a train/boat/bus/train adventure through the mountains and fjords on the way to Bergen.

Cancun sunrise

After my annual trip to New England to visit parents and old high school friends in July, October should see us in China (and some other country yet to be determined). November could be Salt Lake City and environs for a combined SETAC and science traveling jaunt, plus back to Gettysburg for the Lincoln Forum. [Update: Within the last few minutes the possibility arose of going to Montreal during my New England trip, with a stop at Tesla’s birthday event on Long Island on the way back.]

Somewhere in the year I need to squeeze in a research trip to Chicago/Springfield (Illinois), some other off-the-beaten-path trip (Mt. Rushmore?), and, hopefully, a few more science traveling adventures. Check back for more details, as well as photos and stories from the road.

2015 will also see me preparing more travel articles for publication, beginning with the great experiences emanating from Argentina. Look for more science traveling articles in magazines.

Finally, if you missed them, the latest articles in Hot White Snow, The Dake Page, and here on Science Traveler cover Reading is Fundamental, Welcome to a Critical Year in Climate, and Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions.

See you again shortly.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, an avid science traveler, and is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time.

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Science Traveler and Science Traveling

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Candied hawthorns in Olympic Park, Beijing

Candied hawthorns at Olympic Park, Beijing

I call this site Science Traveler. And I’m currently out science traveling. So, what is science traveling? I’m glad you asked. Though the answer isn’t as clear cut as it might seem.

I’ve been a scientist for many years, and as a result have done a little bit of travel. Emphasis on “little” and “bit.” Besides the many wonderful days spent in luxurious locales such as oil refineries, sewage treatment plants, and mud bogs, I regularly attended scientific conferences in cities around the United States and Canada. A delightfully drenched week in Vancouver spent entirely inside a convention center epitomizes the excitement of that annual opportunity. For the last 15 years, however, travel has became a lot more interesting.

I’ve been lucky enough to live overseas on three different occasions, in St. George’s, Bermuda; Edinburgh, Scotland; and most recently, Brussels, Belgium. I’ve been to Asia several times, tootled around a good part of Europe, and currently am trekking through a couple of countries south of the equator. Now that I’m writing books and freelancing full time, my travels will become more frequent and more adventurous. They will also become story lines. And those story lines will usually contain some science angle.

Science traveler. Like asking whether Galileo actually did drop balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and if he did, was someone at the bottom to catch them? Like, how is it that I could carry on a conversation with an elderly (and slightly inebriated) Japanese gentleman when neither one of us spoke the others language? Like, how many Argentinian students does it take to get a visiting scientist to wade into a stream alongside an electroshock fisherman?

Of course, science traveling can also mean simply appreciating the ephemeral beauty of a sinking sunset over a Mexican beach, the astonishing talent of a renaissance artist in the Vatican, or the portentous river of water sluicing down a melting glacier in Chile. It might also include crawling through caves in Tennessee after overlooking one of the Civil War’s most infamous battle sites, admiring the orchids of Tenerife, or visiting the latest in a long list of aquariums.

Science traveling most definitely includes photographs. Thousands of photographs. And with each photo comes a story…or many stories. Science traveler will tell those stories.

So while I’m out science traveling I’ll post some photos, some stories, and hopefully some scientific insights that will bring the world closer to everyone.

David J. Kent is an avid traveler and the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. You can order a signed copy directly from me, download the ebook at barnesandnoble.com, and find hard copies exclusively at Barnes and Noble bookstores.

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