Having peered into the shadows of the bar ,intermingled among the drivers and the islanders, interchanging alcoholic vapours, unexpectedly sat a bunch of astrophysicists.
I am referring to the scientists who research space, and theorise, living with their own beliefs of how our planet and life, came to be, and where humanity is heading, according to discoveries they make about the stars.
One is my age long friend, the Surfer, who uses his science research on the island as an excuse to surf all year. One by one other familiar faces emerged out of smoke clouds and memory from by gone years.. Oh yes the professor, I believe I know him.. Than oh, that man, who looks and acts like Mr Bean and goes everywhere with his rucksack in hand, and can never put it down, yes he is familiar too, and there was a whole bunch more.
It was unusual that they where in town at all- instead of being isolated up in their mountain institute, unusual that there was such a great number of them on the same place- they had driven the bus and taxi drivers into a corner, and it was unusual because there was so much alcohol! I had prejudices which did not mix scientists and alcohol- which where corrected- as I was offered a glass of vine, though sun had barley struck mid day..
The mix and match of old, round, young, wide ,thin, absurdly strong, among the bunch of men, had met for the purpose of producing a science festival in the town of Hvar. A plausible enough reason for them to all descend from their mountain in the sky. Though I had come to the island to have a relaxing girls weekend with Nađa, their immediate rustle of science feathers, lecture plans and titles, time tables, and spluttering enthusiasm made it impossible for my to object to attending their festival- which happened to be unavoidably next to my hotel.
There was time before the commencement of the long awaited girls night, so I showered, dressed, and peeped into the science festival. I think it was the dress, that did it.. Having spent weeks living alone on the top of the mountain, the male scientists encountered a female of the species, wearing a dress, at their very own presentation, and than united -almost all as one and one for all , they extracted me out of my previous plans with Nađa, and engulfed me into an astronomical weekend!
One scientist objected at female company. At the end of his lecture, he went as far as asking teenage science enthusiasts, whether they where interested in Women, or Football, than having deuced a negative answer- he conformed to all the geek cliche's- and told the boys that their answers promise that they will be good scientists one day! The chap was not what one would expect a scientist to look like, being enormously tall and exceedingly strong, as when he is not studying stars, he spends his time weight lifting nothing less than trucks! Lluckily he had to go bed at 200 hours, so freed us from his antisocial company.
Following the lectures, astrophysicists pulled me to join them for dinner, and from there to the telescopes, where children where fighting to get a glimpse of Jupiter and its moons. The night evolved into a girls and scientists night about town where the assumption that scientist do not drink was corrected to scientists drink large quantities frequently and could be even referred to as alcoholics.
Having not been convinced of continuing the night and observing sunrise from their observatory. The next omrning I was shocked that surfer man was awake- contrary to his custom, with instructions form professor, of bringing me up to the institute.
The institute in which the scientists live and work is an old castle up on the mountain above town, built by the French during the Napoleon's short reign of the island, and used today by the scientists I have here introduced you to, as an astronomical observatory, for studying the changes upon the surface of the Sun, and to research the connection of how the activity on the Sun alters the weather on earth. The location is magnificent with wievs of the sea and fantastic landscapes from the castle- which stands strong in untouched nature, amid scented flowers, herbs, and wildlife, completely isolated.
Writing an article about the festival on their coputer, I encounterd the truck lifter scientist- who seeing a female in the institution assumed I had come for the purpose of cooking for them, and was highly offended to deduct that I had no motives not cook to feed his ginormous muscles, and thus told me I shall therefor not be entitled to eat. He was later made to feel ashamed by someone- for had he had even offered a recompense hand to- air-shake mine- real touching would have provided too much possibility for germ exchange and human contact.
Having spent a 24 hours with scientists, I was struck by the realisation of how much alike artists they are. The Astra-physicists live dedicating their lives to tedious research, working often on pure enthusiasm for double the hours of normal jobs, and their projects lack financial benefits other occupations seem to provide, but they work for a great propose and believe that their work will benefit humanity- despite being often misunderstood, and regarded as strange by the very humanity who are intended to benefit from their work.
Never the less truths is they are a bit strange.. The fact that the scientists are so engrossed in their scientific work, means they do not notice trivia, like fashion, and so live dressed displaying this attitude. Not to mention that they spend most of their waking hours, working on their research, closed up within scientific institutes, loosing track of weather it is day or night, weather they have eaten or drunk anything, or too much.. They work separated from common society by the walls of the institutes, where understood among their own kind they do not have to fret about any thing trivial, including trivial social behaviour- so they tend to forget how to behave once on the outside . Inside they are safe living within a hierarchy based on scientific achievement, quantity of scientific papers published, and research. Outside of their institutes when encountered by someone who does not know of their work, and reasons for their odd behaviour- to them scientist just appear are weird.
For the whole moring, barr the truck man, I was treated like royalty by all the scientists who where happy to have a guest inside in their world, and the beautiful institute. As a result I have concluded that I must return to the observatory to realise an "Art & science" project with them. This also being the title of the science festival during the weekend. We could give one another's work a different angle- my work in this project could get-some of their intention and purpose for doing something useful for humanity-whilst to their work I would give expression outside the institute,bring it out, translate it so it is understood and available to a wider public, without loosing purpose.
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