Der erste und einzige Geologe auf dem Mond and other stories

Actually did some things this week! Apart from the normal homeostasis actions that is.

Last weekend I spent hugely increasing my knowledge of lake district geology, a highly enjoyable pastime. I have no idea why I always put of doing research and reading papers, because once I start I always get really dragged in, some of my favourite work has ended up being stuff I had to read papaers for, notably my essay on giant dinosaurs last year. I will NEVER get over that I HAD to write an essay on giant dinosaurs! Fantastic.

I was repeatedly told before I came here that I had to watch the classic 1949 film 'The Third Man', an old fashioned adventure thriller set in Vienna. Even more predictably, I did not watch it. But now I am sort of glad that I didn't, because watching it with a more than passing familiarity with the landmarks and streets in the film made it much more worthwile. The basic plot is that western (the genre) author Holly Martins travels to postwar, divided Vienna to take up an offer of a job from old friend Harry Lime. It is not a big spoiler (as it happens about 2 minutes into the film) to tell you that when he arrives, Harry is dead. Holly spends the rest of the film trying to find out if it was really 'just an accident', tangling with the black market, the police, Harry's girlfriend, a man with a tiny dog, a parrot, and the sewers of Vienna, all to a cool and instantly recognisable zither soundtrack.

I really enjoyed the film just from a film perspective, never mind the setting. It was just enjoyable. The jokes were funny (though the lines were sometimes corny, what can you do), the mystery was engaging, the twists were well executed, the lines well delivered, and the cinematography and soundtrack created a brilliant atmosphere. I loved the ending too, for anyone who has seen it, I thought it was just right.

But the setting is a very important part of the film. Crucially, it is a big part but it stays in the background. The film is never trying to point out how cool or european or whatever it is being by being set in Vienna. Because it is never particularly overt, what comes across it that someone just really loved Vienna and wanted to show it off. Actually, I think it might seem to someone that hadn't been here that they WERE showing off, what with the ridiculous in your face architecture and interior decoration, but if there is one lesson you should have already learned from this blog, it is that Vienna really does just casually throw stuff like that at you, seemingly without expecting even a raised eyebrow because hey, everywhere looks like this, right?

One of the most interesting things was seeing postwar Vienna with the rubble still in the streets. Seeing such a familiar place with these piles of rubble in them was unusual, and allows you to look at new buildings and imagine the rubble they replaced. It is funny, but I've never seen many pictures of post blitz london. Perhaps the ones I have seen do not have any recognisable landmarks in so I have trouble relating with them? A lot more of London has changed I think, and not just from bombing.

The very next day I changed tack and after a brief climbing session hurried to the Festsaal of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to watch a talk on lunar geology by the last man on the moon, Dr Harrison Schmitt. Of course, the major draw wasn't lunar geology itself, but a man that had actually poked that lunar geology with a sampling tool. As a geologist Dr Schmitt was in a unique position to apply the instincts of an experienced fieldworker on the moon. Apollo 17 was the las tApollo mission, and by then NASA had really developed some quite impressive kit. Everyone knows about Apollo 11, but who knows about Apollo 17 where the guys spent three days driving around the moon, travelling several miles and revolutionising scientific understanding of an area?

The talk itself was quite interesting as Dr Schmitt has a different opinion on lunar formation to the established view. It was nice to hear different opinions, as the fact is very far from being settled, although I have not read his work to know how justified he is of course. Being an american from the era of Apollo space science and the optimistic expectation that humans would soon conquer the solar system with other big projects, he is keen that we get back to the moon to mine its Helium 3, and ideal, 100% clean fuel for fusion reactors. Overall, this man came across as someone who had a real understanding of science, who while he may have seemed dogmatic and set in his ideas, would actually gladly change them if anyone could actually prove he was wrong. I do not think all famous scientists think like that.

Seeing someone who has actually stood on the moon is a very very odd feeling. It is hard to comprehend how far away this person has been, and how impressive it is thatthey then came back. Harisson Schmitt must be over 60 now, which is another shock. to all intents and purposes, we have moved backwards. We can no longer put a man on the moon in a semi routine way. We have lost the expertise, but more importantly the drive. Dr Schmitt made the important point that Apollo worked for several reasons. First, it had enough money (the man in charge of getting the money asked engineers for their estimates, averaged the figure then doubled it, and he was right on the money), second, it had youth on its side. In the words of Dr Schmitt (quoting the head of NASA or the Apollo programme or both, I forget) they 'didn't know how to fail'. The average age of the people in the control room was 26, and the average age of the 40,000 engineers directly working for NASA was similar. Furthermore, people were given the room to play around with their ideas, rather than being rigidly forced to fulfil a certain target. Nowadays, google uses the same sort of methods, and look where they have got to...

There is always the argument that we should spend out money on earth first. As a science fiction fan it is obvious where I stand, I believe that the inspirational value of the moon landings, as well as their position as an important step towards a final goal of relieving the planet of our crushing presence and not to mention the unforseeable technological and purely scientific gains, are worth the just under 100 billion 2009 US Dollars it cost to put Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon. ( I don't know how much the subsequent program cost). But even if you think we should be banding together to tackle something else, like HIV or malaria or water cleanliness or climate change, I think we still need to look at what made the Apollo programme such a success, and how we can emulate or improve on its methods in the modern world.

I'm going to Prague tomorrow!