The author’s dogs, Oliver and Rigby.
Sam Holland
The Best Medicine
SEP 28, 2020
September Photos of the Month
Hello readers,
I write this on a very gloomy, rainy day. My dogs, Oliver and Rigby, and I are cooped up in the house as we experience seemingly non-stop end-of-summer showers (note from the future- the rains stopped!). The grey skies feel like a reflection of my spirit, as I worry about the things I read and see on the news. I know I’m not the only one to think that things are a little scary right now - and not in the exciting, spooky-October kind of way.
When I feel like this, I find myself searching for things to focus on that will lift me out of the gloom, whether it be a phone call to my sister, a game of fetch or tug-of-war with Oliver (Rigby prefers to watch from the sidelines), or listening to one of my favorite songs. You know, the simple things.
In an effort to elevate my mood - and yours, too, if you have been feeling like me - I’m choosing some happy, laughter-filled images for us to view for the September Photos of the Month. A little positivity can only help, right? Join me as I try to prove that, even when captured in a still image, laughter can be infectious.
Einstein sailing.
Erich Marx, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Einstein Albert B137.
Einstein’s joyous expression in this photo makes me smile. It was taken in 1934 while he was sailing. He is well-known for his love of nature, so that may have been the source of his happiness. I hope you all have something in your life that makes you this happy.
Stephane Courteau and Sandra Faber laugh and converse.
University of California, Santa Cruz, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Dr. Faber. Faber Sandra F2.
Sandra Faber laughs and converses with a former student while pointing to an old-school monitor. This video , made by UC Santa Cruz, acknowledges all that Faber accomplished in her career (and also features a colorized version of this very photo).
Ben Mottelson and wife, Britta Siegumfeldt, at St. Croix River, Minnesota.
Photo by Norton M. Hintz, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Mottelson Ben G4.
Some of my favorite photos are those that show people genuinely enjoying each other’s company. In this image, Danish-American physicist Ben Mottelson and his wife, Britta Marger Siegumfeldt, laugh together at St. Croix River in Minnesota.
Ronald Mallett converses with with physicist Joseph Taylor (center) and his wife, Marietta (left).
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Dr. Ronald Mallett. Taylor Joseph C3.
Ronald Mallett converses with physicist Joseph Taylor (center) and his wife, Marietta (left) at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Interestingly, Mallett is known for his theorizing on the possibility of time travel. On behalf of everyone living in 2020 let me just say - wouldn’t that be nice?
He explains his ideas as well as his motivations in this facinating video .
Otto Stern laughing at the Copenhagen Conference at the Niels Bohr Institute.
Photograph by Emilio Segrè, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. Stern Otto B1.
This photo, which came out of an album owned by Victor Weisskopf, shows Otto Stern laughing while attending the Copenhagen Conference at the Niels Bohr Institute in 1934.
Gregor Wentzel, Anny Wentzel and Hideki Yukawa during an international conference.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Donat Wentzel. Wentzel Gregor C1.
Here Gregor Wentzel, Anny Wentzel, and Hideki Yukawa laugh together while socializing at a conference in Kyoto, Japan - presumably, the International Conference on Theoretical Physics of 1953.
I hope these photos made you smile and brought a little cheeriness to your day.
