Category: The Wombat

Womby relaxing at the South end of the Bay of Sagone.

He’s actually looking at Fernando in the picture. Fernando doesn’t even know he is there.

Womby in Biarritz!

Womby somewhere outside of Newcastle with Spencer & Conor, Michelle & Tracey, Faith & Eve, and Sarah & Brian.

Womby looking out over the Mediterranean Sea from Jaffa. The left shows the tower of the Al Bahr Mosque peeking out, and the rocks on the right are where Andromeda was chained when Perseus saved her (go to the 5th paragraph or search Jaffa in this link).

This is Womby in Nice. The structure to the left seems to be a high-dive platform at a beach club…

This is Womby in Zürich, CH. Taken from near the University of Zurch.

Womby at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Womby at Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fern, I know what you’re going to say, and I’m sorry. Marius is here for a semester and I have to come here, cutting into my travel south… ;-(

Womby outside the ARoS museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

Here’s a post-processed Womby at the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval.

At the Greek parliament in Athens.

Womby at the Plaza del Torico in Teruel, Spain. 

Here’s Womby with John Harvard… at Harvard. 

Womby at the European Gravitational Observatory, outside of Pisa.

Womby in Baltimore.

He may not remember him, because he was on an Aricebo review a day or two after Fernando arrived, but this is Alberto.

Have they changed at all? I’m starting to get annoyed 🙂

Womby on the spot at the University of Chicago where Enrico Fermi and his lab succeeded in making the first sustained nuclear reaction.

Womby getting ready for November 7th.

Not to be confused with Set, this is Womby in the port town of Sète. They seem to like sea creatures here.

Not to be confused with Marseille, here is Womby on the beach in Marseillan. That’s Pete in the distance.

Womby at my friend Ian’s house in Morro Bay, overlooking the Morro Rock.

Womby on the beach in Santa Cruz, CA, during a reunion with some of my P’ton roommates.

Womby on the hill overlooking Berkeley and the rest of the Bay Area. You can see the UC Berkeley Campanile towards the left of the picture. You can’t really make it out in the picture, but the Golden Gate Bridge is in the upper-right of the picture.

I’m at a meeting at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs this week. I actually worked around here long ago, so it’s neat to see things again. But I don’t remember turkeys running around wild when I was here — and I would have thought LBL turkeys would be smart enough to avoid barbecues…

Womby with Marius in Namur, Belgium.

Womby in the guest bedroom in Marius’s house in Courrière, Belgium.

Womby in Cardiff, watching France get absolutely demolished by New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Womby just outside of Konigsplatz, in Munich.

Gabriela with Womby outside the University of Michigan tower in Ann Arbor, where she has her office.

At the Arles Arena with Pete, Fern, Julie and Graby.

Kathy from P’ton!

I hadn’t seen Victoria since her wedding…

I haven’t seen Ed in something like 20 years, but he came over for the Uli-being-old celebration!

From P’ton!

Womby in Mackinaw, MI (right at the “tip” of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan). You can barely see the Mackinaw Bridge, which goes from the lower to the upper peninsula, in the background.

In Lausanne, Switzerland. I haven’t actually spent much money here, but it doesn’t seem that much more expensive than Paris. 13 Swiss Francs for a small pizza, and 2.50 for a bottle of coke…

In the north of the Netherlands.

Womby at the impressive entrance to Queen’s University, Belfast.

Womby at Shandon, in Cork, Ireland.

Womby at Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church.

Womby next to the Este palace in Ferrara, Northern Italy (where I was for a Planck conference).

This is Womby in Minneapolis. He is next to a monument to the Nobel Prize winners of UMN. I think you had to have a Nobel Prize, and come to a conference here to be included 🙂

Womby in Durban, South Africa. This is the view of Durban from Cynthia and Jon’s house…

I gave a talk at Witswatersrand University in Johannesburg. Here’s Womby outside the old main building there.

Womby went with us to the Drakensberg Park in South Africa

Outside of Cardiff Castle, in Wales.

Overlooking a canal in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

At the Chateau de Blois, in the Loire valley.

At the SISSA institute in Trieste, Italy.

Looking into the port of Marseille.

On the island of Saint-Martin.

At the ISDC outside of Geneva, Switzerland.

Womby looking at the opened CMS detectors at CERN.

The Mathematical Bridge at Cambridge.

A day in Provence.

In the Ochre mines in Roussilon, France.

In Cambodia.

At the Schloss Berlepsch, where I stumbled onto a full-on reenactment of a medival trial.

At Max Planck’s grave in Gottingen, Germany.

In the town speculated to be the origin of a branch of my family…

At Gauss’s grave in Gottingen, Germany.

Outside the Strasbourg Cathedral.

At Old Faithful, in Yellowstone Park.

Womby at the top of a hill near Buzios, Brazil (about three hours drive from Rio).

Womby in Gnadenthal, Germany (That’s near Kleve, as in “Anne of Cleves”).

Womby in Rotterdam; waiting for the Thalys.

Womby in Leiden, on the way home from a meeting.

Womby in the beach town of Katwijk, at the mouth of the Rhine (Rijn?).

Womby outside Reims Cathedral, where the Kings of France were crowned. Also where you can get the shittiest Ham sandwich you’ve ever tasted for only about 10 dollars.

Womby looking at the Church from the same location Monet used when painting “L’Eglise à Varengeville”, while visiting Spencer, Tracey, Faith and Eve in Haute Normandy.

Womby in the land of my ancestors, Cruejouls, France.

Womby in the picturesque village of St. Eulalie d’Olt.

Womby in the picturesque village of Conques.

Womby at Roskilde, near Copenhagen, Denmark.

Womby at the Cape of Good Hope.

Womby with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, the discoverer of pulsars.

Womby with Fernando’s thesis advisor. Joe also won the 1993 Nobel prize in physics.

Womby on the Magere Bridge in Amsterdam.

Womby with David in NYC!

Womby at the Princeton Physics Department.

With Ed Groth in the graduate student area of Jadwin Hall.

Womby at our lab’s bi-annual retreat in La Palmyre, France.

Womby at the Korean War memorial in Seoul, South Korea.

Womby at Cecilia’s wedding. No, Womby did not marry her. Actually, neither did the guy next to her, though the actual groom did have a suit like that.

Womby in a small town in Normandy, St. Sever. Spencer, Tracey, Faith and Eve were vacationing near there.

Womby (and Mafalda) with Uli’s sisters, Anke und Uta.

In the southern town of Rodez…

Womby outside the Manchester Cathedral.

Womby in Delft, a nice town in Holland, where Ubli and Maarten are spending a year.

Womby with the Rutgers and Potters children.

Watching a baseball game.

At Fernando’s favorite telescope down under.

Womby at the Western Plains Zoo in Australia.

Womby outside the “Our Lady of Geneva” Church (which also happens to be right outside the Geneva train station).

At the Moriond Cosmology Meeting in the Alps.

In Charlottesville, Virginia, during the “Blizzard of the Century”, at the Free Speech Wall.

Womby at the Guiana Space Center.

Womby in Tiananmen Square.

At the Pope’s Palace in Avignon.

In Menerbes, France. The house in the background, right at Womby’s nose, is a friend’s.

Womby on St. Joseph’s Island, overlooking Devil’s Island, of prison fame.

Womby awaiting the Herschel/Planck launch in an Ariane 5 rocket.

In the home of Cayenne Pepper with 2006 Physics Nobel Prize winner George Smoot.

Near Cecilia’s family’s place in the Haute Savoie.

The Enrico Fermi shrine in the physics department at the La Sapienza University in Rome.

Womby on a model of the ISO satellite (circled in red at the bottom of the photo) at the European Space Station’s Villafranca station in Spain.

Womby outside the big monastery in El Escorial, Spain.

Womby in front of the train station in Lyon, France.

Womby at the ESTEC, the European Space Agency installation in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Womby with the Mannekin Pis.

Womby in Cambridge with a copy of Jocelyne Bell’s thesis. This is where the discovery of pulsars (what Fernando studies) was made.

Womby on a double-decker bus in London.

Womby in La Grand’Combe, my French ancestral homeland.

Screw Stanford. This is Womby at the Computer History Museum.

Womby in Muenster.

Womby in Kinsale, hovering like the ghost of the English over Fort George (left bank of the river) and Fort James (right).

Womby with Eve.

Womby with Spen.

Site of another European Space Agency installation.

You would not mistake this for Hawaii…

With a statue of Galileo.

In northern Italy.

Womby in Grenoble, France.

In London.

Gabriela and Mafalda in their old apartment near Lisbon.

Womby in Guimarães, Portugal. We hope you appreciate the fantastic special effects used to make the zoom-inset…

Womby with Marc and Stephanie in Paris at David and Isabel’s wedding.

Womby with Mark in Paris at David and Isabel’s wedding.

Womby with Michael in Paris at David and Isabel’s wedding.

Womby with Uli in Paris at David and Isabel’s wedding.

Womby with Gabriela in Paris at David and Isabel’s wedding.

Womby near the center of Toulouse.

Womby in Cannes, France.

Womby with the statue of Millikan at Caltech.

Womby in Ireland. Notice the red hair. Okay, it’s McDonalds at the Dublin airport.

Womby looking over Raithlin Island from Ballycastle, Northern Ireland.

At the Louvre.

Womby at the Rockefeller Center in New York.

Womby paying his respects at the grave of Urbain Le Verrier, the discoverer of Neptune, at his grave at the Cemetery Montparnasse, in Paris.

Womby at the Spontin Chateau in Southern Belgium.

Womby looking out over Rome from the Villa Mondragone. It was at the the Villa Mondragone where Pope Gregory inaugurated what would ultimately be called the Gregorian Calendar.

Womby at the Ajaccio airport in Corsica.

Womby looking out over Hanoi from his hotel room.

Taken at her house.

Womby with Karin. Taken at Ken’s apartment in Paris.

Taken from a house we rented for a week near Lido de Noto. Note that the tiny building in the upper right side is the entrance to the Eloro site. See http://www.siracusa-sicilia.it/english/eloro.htm.

Womby with Conor. Taken at Ken’s apartment in Paris.

At the beach in East Norwalk, Connecticut, USA.

Taken at Fern’s apartment in New York.

Taken at the South Pole. The marker Womby is standing on is the USGS estimation of the Geographic South Pole on January 1, 2005 (it moves slightly each year).

Taken at the Antarctica Visitors’ Center in Christchurch, New Zealand. I believe that the thing holding the Wombat is a cuddly seal.

With the groom at the wedding of Sandor and Jenssen. 

With Steffen. Taken at Sandor and Jenssen’s wedding.

With a very pregnant Ubli. Taken at Sandor and Jenssen’s wedding.

With Maarten. Taken on the way to Sandor and Jenssen’s wedding.

This is the first Womby picture ever taken! At the AAS meeting in San Diego, in front of the NASA Herschel Science Center booth, while I was still at IPAC.

This is Steve Torchinsky, who, it turns out, not only was at the AAS meeting, but both knows Fernando, and now lives in France!

Taken at Sandor and Jenssen’s wedding.