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Today I returned from visiting my daughter, who is a student at the
University of Puget Sound in Tacoma (just south of Seattle, for our
international readers).   UPS just opened a big new science building
and, as perhaps befitting a liberal arts college, its decorative
architecture reflects a theme of "science as art"  (for example, the
courtyard outside the building is covered with bricks in a pattern
reflecting a famous fractal).

Two items of its decoration immediately energized my celestial
navigation neurons:

A decorative medallion immediately  next to the main door shows Venus's
epicyclic path with respect to the Earth, very much reminding me of
medieval astronomy illustrations.

But the biggie is 30-foot tall analemma on the south wall of the main
entry.  Sunlight enters through a skylight above and is focused by a
reflecting mirror onto the wall (hence the location of the analemma on
the south wall).  At noon every day, the spot of light is on the correct
location for the day of the year on the analemma.   Unfortunately, it
was cloudy and rainy both days I was there (welcome to the Pacific
Northwest of the US), so I never got to see it in action.

Lu Abel

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