The Inebriated Scientist
Posted on March 5, 2009 | Categories: Travel | Tags: europe, france, photos, wtf
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In June 2007, I did an exchange trip to France. Part of my stay was with a host family in Strasbourg, and one of the many events the host school in Strasbourg organized for us American exchange students was a tour of Colmar, a neighboring town in the Alsace region of France. Colmar was very picturesque, particularly Little Venice, as well as the old town section that was full of quaint little stores1.
It was on our visit to Colmar that we saw this statue of Gustave-Adolphe Hirn, a famous French scientist, sculpted by Frédéric Bartholdi, who was the same man that did the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Obviously this statue of Hirn was meant to pay tribute to Hirn’s significant contributions in his chosen field of science, yet if you look at the Wikipedia image of Hirn, you’ll see that in my photo, someone decided to supply Hirn with a bottle of vodka. It seems as though even the most brilliant of scientists2 enjoy partaking in drinking hard liquor from time to time!
- One of my friends found a store that sold tea and jam, and proceeded to buy nearly twenty euros worth of tea and jam. I’m not sure what she was planning to do with all that tea and jam. [↩]
- According to Wikipedia, Hirn was a “physicist, astronomer. mathematician and engineer who made important measurements of the mechanical equivalent of heat and contributions to the early development of thermodynamics. He further applied his science in the practical development of steam engines.” If that’s not a description of someone who’s brilliant at science, I don’t know what is. [↩]
Sophie
Haha, that is, alas, the unfortunate fate that awaits all statues with an open hand. There’s one in Leicester that always in the week has a McDonalds cup, replaced with beer at the weekend. So at least he only let’s off steam at the weekend.
And his expression is perfect for glancing at the bottle, he actually seems slightly bemused.
Sophie’s last blog post: This Week I Have Mostly Been Reading…
Olga
Hah! That is awesome.
Olga’s last blog post: What Was the Question?
Carmen
Oh hey, that’s awesome! I didn’t catch it when I first looked, and was confused as to the title of the post but I love it when statues are dressed up. In a cheerful way, I mean, not in a disrespectful way. There’s a statue on my uni campus that has those rectangular geek chic glasses on it which is awesome :)