Tree of Science 365, to January 6

My daughter, who was visiting us over the New Year's holiday, challenged me to come up with a contribution to the Capture Your 365 photo contest. So here it is...enjoy. [1/15: And hers is here!]

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Each day, I'm taking a picture of what's happening around the giant maple tree in the Williams College Science Quad. This "Tree of Science" is very old and, as you will undoubtedly see sometime this year, is suffering mightily against the diseases that are taking out these beautiful trees of New England. This tree, whose value is under-acknowledged, plays an important role in the lives of many members of the Williams community. You'll see that too.

Let's Begin!

I started a little late, so I'll bring you up to speed with a marvelous photograph taken for the Williams Record, the local student newspaper. This photo is from Fall 1996. In this photograph, my daughter, Kate, is 8 and my son, Duane (née Ryan), is 5.

Children Playing under the Tree of Science, 1996.

This next photograph is a 360-degree panorama of my Computer Organization class (Computer Science 237) from Fall of 2003 (click for full view). If you look closely, you'll see that some of the students appear multiple times! The Tree of Science, of course appears once.

Computer Organization Fall 2003 under the Tree of Science.

Students, here, are Ersen Bilgin, Alex Constantin, Marcus Duyzend, Laura Effinger-Dean, Brian Hirshman, Jamie Kingsbery, Zack Kung, Davis Parker, Davy Stevenson, Robin Stewart, Robert Terchunian, Thomas Williams, and Zack Yeskel.

Friday, January 4, 9am.

Mary and I are headed to work, and it's cold, but the bitter cold of Thursday is gone (note the incoming clouds). Kate is headed home. This is our subject, the Tree of Science.

Tree of Science. Bronfman Science Center (left) and Clark Geosciences (right)

Saturday, January 5, 2013, just after sunset

This shot is taken at about 4:45pm, about a half hour after sunset. The Tree of Science, having seen many students and storms, has a uniquely ancient silhouette.

Tree of Science, after sunset.

Sunday, January 6, 2013, noon.

I'm headed into work, but the Science Quad is already home to several students participating in the Wilderness Rescue Training WinterStudy course. The first half of this panorama (click for full view) points generally east.

Panorama of East Science Quad.

Tree of Science, West Hall (the oldest building on campus), First Congregational Church, Thompson Chapel, Morgan Hall, Jesup Hall, Thompson Physics (the oldest physics building in the United States), and the home of Computer Science—Thompson Chemistry.

The second half (again, click on picture for full view) points, roughly, west.

Panorama of West Science Quad. 

We see here Thompson Chemistry (and Computer Science), CS Labs, Thompson Biology, Bronfman Science Center, Clark Geosciences, and the Tree of Science. Several students are practicing wilderness rescue techniques.

With luck, we'll have more posts next week.

-dab