7 August, 2002

Our morning lecture was presented by Jim Marsden, physicist and 
member of the AMANDA project (Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector 
Array). I must admit that my mouth was watering during his talk. 
First, the physics is astonishing and uncannily creative - to 
detect the ubiquitous yet elusive neutrino by effectively placing 
the Earth (and a whole lot of ice) in the way is pure brilliance. 
The project reminded me of a game my musician friends and I used 
to play while on tour: name a song you wish you wrote. I wish I 
"wrote" this project, so to speak. Oh, I know that it represents 
the fruits of many researchers? labors, but still, it is almost 
poetic in its execution.


To me, the AMANDA project is the archetypal science endeavor: 
researchers of many countries and backgrounds gather to solve 
decades-old questions about the universe, with practical 
applications not yet apparent. What use does neutrino detection 
have? To quote a phrase frequently misattributed to Michael 
Faraday and Ben Franklin, "of what use is a newborn baby?" 
AMANDA, to me, represents all of the beautiful things about 
science. It is why we study nature. It is the ultimate pursuit 
of the true original meaning of "scientia" - knowledge.


Our afternoon's activities were largely mechanistic, 
discussing image and journal posting. As such, it was not 
nearly so captivating. Such is life.