Above, a slightly more recognizable view of this week's puzzle location, which was correctly identified as the top of the Eiffel Tower by Roderick Simpson, who remembers visiting the top in freezing wind for his 25th anniversary. And wind is part of today's story.
Since the tower is so well-known, and since we’ve had so much posted on it before, I’ve bent this “reveal” in a different direction: the Tower’s role in science and technology, and some other less well-known facts about it.
When I say “bent,” there’s a literal truth to it. Not only is the tower flexible enough to sway in the wind (in one storm in 1999 the movement was measured at 13 cm) but it’s affected by heat as well. In high temperatures, the side most exposed to the sun expands more than the shadier side. The Leaning Tower of Paris can tilt as much as 18 cm!
Alberto Santos-Dumont demonstrates first practical lighter-than-air
vehicle at the tower, winning an international prize.
Obviously, Eiffel the engineer had to consider those effects in the design of the tower, and he was well prepared to do that; aerodynamics was one of his passionate interests, and he built a lab for such experiments on the third level of the tower, just below the crown of antennas seen in the picture. The lab was also equipped for meteorology work, and Eiffel invited others to perform experiments at the tower.
The tower’s science connection was no accident; the original contract for the tower gave it 20 years to make back its investment, and it was supposed to be dismantled in 1909. But who would want to tear down a tower deeply involved with and important to science? Shrewd! In his words, “It will be an observatory and a laboratory such as science has never had at its disposal. That’s why, from Day 1, all our scientists have encouraged me with such strong fellow feeling.”
In fact, as part of his campaign to overcome protests at the tower’s building, he sought endorsements from scientists, and honored a chosen 72 with an “invocation of science”—their names are engraved in gold letters 60 cm high just under the first balcony. The lower picture shows the location; 18 names on each side.
Not only did numbers of scientists take up the invitation to experiment at the tower, including those who collaborated with Eiffel in developing the principles of the modern wind tunnel, but others came just to visit. The reconstruction of Eiffel’s apartment on the third level, adjoining the lab, shows the visit of Thomas Edison, during the 1889 Universal Exhibition. Lower picture shows Edison's arrival at the tower in 1889
For more Gumbo pieces on Eiffel and the Tower, click HERE
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