...on the shoulders of giants
As part of artist Bill Bell's “Lightstick” series, this subliminary artwork in the elevator lobby on the second floor of the Photonics Center is comprised of widely spaced columns of light emitting diodes that scan patterns at high speed. Our eyes register these patterns and reassemble them into pictures, revealing a hidden theme of of the piece: great photonics scientists and their iconic equations describing light propagation. Observers can change what is displayed by voicing commands to a nearby microphone panel.
After more than two decades of flawless operation, the piece began to experience technical difficulties in 2022. I found a ladder and tried to debug the problem on a high shelf in an AV closet where the control computer was located. Stymied, I called Bill, now in his 90s, and asked for help. He walked me through the complex hardware, software, and networking details of the system's operation as if he had installed the piece last week. Together, we found the flaw – a corrupt cable and ethernet switch – and fixed it, bringing the artwork back to life. Thank you Bill!