Fourth Annual NASS Conference - Seattle 1998Text by Hal Brandmaier Photographs by Ginny Brandmaier

For the second year in a row, the Sun shonebrightly on the annual NASS conference. It washeld on September 11 to 13 in the Physics &Astronomy Building (latitude 47º39.16´N,longitude 122º18.7´W) at the University ofWashington in Seattle, WA. This is the firstmeeting that was completely planned andexecuted by a group of local NASS members, inthis case headed by Woody Sullivan, Professor ofAstronomy at the university. The results weremagnificent.

Board members: Fred, Claude, Sara, Hal

Registration took place on Friday evening; about40 members attended the conference. Theartistic name tags, made by Woody's daughters,contained the attendee's name, home location,latitude, longitude, the annual percentage of clearskies, and a decorative symbol. Afterwards, asarranged by the host group, most attendees wentto a pub in the heart of Seattle, for food and anopportunity to sample some of Seattle'smicrobrews. We all had a good time!

The meeting format consisted of a number of 15to 45 minute talks and briefer less formal “Show-and-Tell” presentations. A large number ofsundial related displays, outdoor demonstrations,and the local sundials on the tour provided theattendees with the necessary “hands-on”experience. Of course, the most interestingaspects were the live contacts between NASSmembers.

Each attendee received a detailed programschedule, Fred Sawyer's Hectemoros sundial witha copy of his article “Ptolemaic CoordinateSundials” which appears in the Compendium V5-

N3, and abstracts of each talk - which was a firstfor a NASS conference. During the conference,Fred gave an unscheduled talk on hisHectemoros and Ptolemaic sundials in general.Copies of a number of talks, training aids, specialdiagrams, and sundial designs were availableduring the conference. Peter Abrahams evengave away the models he assembled for hisdisplay.

Bill Nye “The Science Guy” with Al Pratt, JimLattis and Sara Schechner Genuth

Following introductory remarks by Woody andFred Sawyer, Len Berggren was our first speaker.Len presented some of the history of gnomonicsin medieval Islam, pointing out that the time ofafternoon prayer is defined in terms of gnomonshadow length, and that medieval Islamicgnomonicists used tabular rather than geometricdial design methods and had developedcoordinate system transformations (equatorial tohorizontal to dial).

Woody Sullivan then described the design andconstruction of the large vertical sundial on thesouthwest wall of the Physics & Astronomy

building. This project required ½ man years ofeffort spread over two years. His talk includeddesign criteria, hour-line and day-linelayout, gnomon and nodus design,dial furniture, material and finishselection, part fabrication, andassembly and installation.

The University of Washington Dial

Woody Sullivan and Bill Nye, whohas an internationally distributed TVscience program, described a sundialto be onboard a probe scheduled toland on Mars in 2002. Some differences betweena sundial on Mars and one on Earth werediscussed. NASS members were encouraged toprovide input to the design of this truly uniquesundial.

The remainder of Saturday morning wasoccupied by “Show-and-Tell” presentations.These included a pillar dial using an octagonalrather than a circular cylinder by John Harding(who also arrived at the conference on aunicycle), Alan Pratt's improvement of his terella(sundial on the convex side of a spherical Earthmodel) by the addition of an ultraviolet coatingsuggested by Ron Anthony, the services offered

by Sara Schechner Genuth and Jim Lattis in their“Outreach Professionals” organization, Roger

Bailey's T–shirt displaying theequation for sunrise and sunset (KenClark also displayed his version ofthis T–shirt), and Mike Shaw'scustom Horologium shown by HalBrandmaier. In the “GnomonResearch” display, Sara had a copyof the new book “WesternAstrolabes” that includes herextensive essay “Astrolabes: ACross–Cultural and SocialPerspective”.

Ellen Kemp pacing for a horologium experiment

During the informal buffet lunch of sandwiches,salad and cookies, the conferees wanderedthrough the display area, and the sundialdemonstrations outdoors. The highlight for manywas the firing of the noon cannon at 1:05:27 PDT(noon solar time). Unfortunately, the cannon firedabout 10 minutes prematurely, due – it was laterdetermined – to the finite sizes of the focusedspot of sunlight and the cavity containing thegunpowder. One of the dials demonstrated wasPeter Hirtle's heliochronometer. Peter alsomanufactured the aluminum analemmas used asprizes for the many spot quizzes related to dialingand baseball that Woody injected at various timesduring the conference. Peter provided a sheet ofmanufacturing details to interested attendees.

The afternoon sundial tour included eight dials.These dials, along with six others not visited,were briefly described in a tour guide and shownon a map. The first dial was the large (about 20´x 30´) vertical declining wall on the Physics andAstronomy Building described by Woody earlier inthe day. It has the interesting motto:

I thrive in the SunCan't work in the rainSo if I'm beclouded

Please come back again

The second dial on campus is the usualhorizontal dial donated by the graduating class of1912. The plinth was a large rock.

We then bussed to the Sam Hill mansion to viewthe vertical dial there. The house is perched on acliff with a marvelous view of Puget Sound.

At the Pacific Science Center, in addition to manyhands-on exhibits, we saw a vertical glass sundialby Ron Karzmar at the edge of a pond in thecentral courtyard. Ron has a smaller version ofthis dial in acrylic for sale.

One of the tour dials, whose design is still inprogress by Woody, at the architectural offices ofGeorge Suyama, is based on the path of a spot oflight from a circular window falling on the interiorwalls and stairway of the architect's barnlikeoffice. It also shows the progress of the spot oflight down the stairs.

At the Billings Middle School, we saw two verticaldials on the Southeast corner designed and builtby Woody, some friends, and grade 3-6 studentsthat included one of his daughters. One bearsthe motto “Today I'll make shadows. Tonight I'llmake none.”, the other “Like you I must sleep, Tilmorning rays come.”

Accompanying the light as it descends the stairs at the architectural offices of George Suyama

Dials at Billings Middle School

At “Gasworks Park” (developed when the gasworks became obsolete), we viewed a large, highlydecorated, interactive analemmatic sundial on top of “Kite Hill”, the former slag heap.

At The Analemmatic Sundial in Gasworks Park

Local NASS member Chuck Nafziger, helped byWoody and Peter Hirtle, was responsible for the30" diameter equatorial sundial in Webster Parkwhich is the result of an eight - year effort by parkneighbors. One of the desired motifs of the parkthat influenced the dial design was “circularity”.The shadow of the 8" diameter globe at the endof the gnomon corresponds to night on Earthwhile the shadow of the edge of the dial plate onthe calibrated gnomon indicates the month. Themotto is “We do not inherit this land from ourparents, we borrow it from our children”.

The Webster Park Equatorial Sundial

We ended the day with the traditional banquet atCharlie's at Shilshole on Puget Sound locatednear Webster Park. Highlights were a toast withPrüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese wine, so rareand expensive that the bottle labels were used ascontest prizes; a talk by Bill Nye on growing upwith a father who was deeply involved withsundials; and a concert by the Tielman SusatoKrummhorn Gesselleschaft - an ensemble withinterests in wind music of the Renaissance andtwentieth century performed on ancientinstruments.

The concert pieces were all sundial-related andthe banquet attendees joined in singing “ThisBottle's the Sun of our Table”. Otherrecognizably related pieces were “Dial-Song”, “L'Ombre”, and “The Diall”. Larry Stark, the group'sleader, is also the fabrication expert for theUniversity of Washington Sundial. He presentedeach attendee with a brochure describing themusic played.

The Tielman Susato Krummhorn Gesselleschaft

Woody and staff provided a T-shirt for sale toconferees showing the University of Washingtonsundial. A bit of black humor, Len Berggren waswearing his NASS T - shirt when a passenger inthe same elevator stared at it aghast. Lenoffered the fact that there was a conference onthe subject at the university. The passenger wasvery agitated at this. He had misread the shirtand thought it was the North American SuicideSociety.

Sunday's meeting schedule started with theannual general meeting. Each member of theBoard of Directors made brief remarks. Fredstated that he expects that the March 1999Compendium will contain a five year index ofCompendium articles. The 1999 conference will

be in Hartford, CT; highlights will be a tour ofseveral interesting dials and a visit to the Waughcollection of sundial books at the University ofConnecticut.

Fred announced the results of the recent election.Fred Sawyer will remain as President and BobKellogg will be the new Treasurer, as of January1, 1999; both will serve for two years. Fredencouraged attendees to do something for NASS- such as write articles for the Compendium,prepare conference talks and volunteer whenrequested, for example, to be on the nominatingcommittee.

Claude distributed a form allowing attendees tobecome more active participants, particularly inencouraging potential new members and inserving their communities by providing sundialinformation and support. Sara commented onNASS' attainment of 501(C)(3) status as a501(C)(3) non-profit corporation and, Halpresented the financial status as of 8/31/98.

Roger Bailey started the day with "The mostimportant thing for sundial design are location,location, location: Scientific, cultural, andpersonal design factors for sundials". Hediscussed and showed slides of many dials inNorth America and Europe, three of which hedesigned, to illustrate his subject.

Pete Swanstrom described and showed his largeUniversal Equatorial Sundial with an analemmaticpierced plate gnomon. One version wasconstructed of wood, the other of brass. Theseindicate the time to the nearest minute, the date,and incorporate a quick adjustment for daylightsavings time. He also discussed a similarstainless steel sundial for the Anne Morrison Parkin Boise, Idaho. His talk and the very detailedwritten description of the design, fabrication, and

installation available to interested attendeesillustrate advances in design and fabricationmethodologies directed toward greater sundialaccuracy. One of his graphs showed changes tothe analemma every 2000 years from 2000 BC to6000 AD.

Fred Sawyer provided a description and analysisof M. Eble's US patent No. 39,860 for a solarhoroscope. He showed that this is a universalaltitude sundial that uses an interesting graphicalalgorithm. He then made a comparison betweenthis dial and the 16th century Rojas astrolabe thatdetermines time from the Sun's altitude and isbased on an orthographic projection of the skyonto the meridional plane. Fred providedattendees with a stiff paper model of thisastrolabe.

Allan Pratt described and showed three versionsof a simple to design and construct bi-gnomonialsundial based on H. Robert Mills "PracticalAstronomy: A User - friendly Handbook for SkyWatchers". Allan's dials and Pete's dials are atopposite ends of the spectrum in terms of designand fabrication, the former requiring little or nocomputer expertise and simple sheet metalconstruction while the latter employed a versionof the sophisticated Autocad computer aideddrafting program and numerically controlledmachining equipment.

Carl Trost's talk "The historical, monumental, andsometimes quirky sundials and sun sculptures ofthe San Francisco Bay Area" was a wellphotographed and analyzed tour of SanFranscisco sundials. One dial is so large that anamphitheater is located within its time ring. It is tobe hoped that Carl will document these dials forNASS' dial register and for an article in theCompendium; a mathematical background is notneeded to appreciate his accomplishment.

The impact of advanced software techniques wasmuch in evidence at this conference. Bob Kelloggdemonstrated creating a three - dimensionalsundial and locating it within a realistic model ofits environment. He showed a short video thatincluded animation of the shadow. This wasfollowed by Tom Kreyche who demonstrated thecombination of Visual Basic and Autocad todesign and display dial performance. Tom'spresentation was a hard act to follow for the writerwho demonstrated the use of the MATLABsoftware for sundial design based on hisbeginning study and showed its application to the

design of one of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum'ssundials discussed later in the program.

Mark Gingrich's “Improving sundial accuracywhile you ‘weight’” showed how to improve theaverage yearly accuracy of a sundial by adjustingthe hour-lines using a complex weighting factorbased on statistical analysis. It is to be hopedthat Mark will prepare an article for theCompendium so NASS members mayincorporate his results into their designs.

The pasta and salad lunch left time for displaysand demonstrations that included a briefdescription by Woody of the Foucault pendulumsuspended fifty feet above the floor of the buildingin which the conference was held.

Woody and staff provided a tape measure toallow conferees to measure the length of ten oftheir steps and their height to determine whetherthe Horologium ratio of 6 (height to foot length) isapplicable. Most were close. Woody promised topublish the results.

The Sunday afternoon session started with SaraSchechner Genuth and the writer's description oftwo sundials they designed for the Cooper-HewittNational Design Museum in New York City. Onewas an interactive analemmatic sundial using themuseum visitor as the gnomon. The other usedthe peak of a tentlike structure as the gnomonpoint for an azimuthal sundial. The talkemphasized the interaction between the authorsand the mostly non-technical museum staff, andthe detection and solution of installationproblems.

Richard Threet's talk "Solar Aperture byStereonet" showed how to evaluate the effects oflocal terrain and obstructions on the performanceof a sundial as installed using the stereonetprojection (see also Richard's article in TheCompendium, V4 - N2). Richard gave eachattendee a nice training package that evenincluded a pencil, thumbtack, and tracing paperto follow his discussion. 1º and 5º nets wereincluded for further use.

Richard Threet’s Stereonet

Richard Pauli then described his US patent No.5,760,739 for using a calibrated adjustablegnomon to help align a satellite dish antenna.

Richard Pauli’s patent gnomon and antenna

The final talk by NASS Vice President ClaudeHartmann showed the use of double and slottedgnomons to create a beam of light rather than ashadow to tell time. Application to skylights andwindows, particularly those using leaded-glass, iseffective. Since the double gnomon resembles alarge “M”, Claude refers to one designincorporating it as a “Millennium Sundial”. Claudedemonstrated his concepts during the outdoordemonstration periods.

In conclusion, the conference was a success andthe attendees brought away much usefulinformation to prepare them for next year'sconference in Hartford, CT. Woody and his staffare again to be congratulated.

Claude Hartmann discusses his sundial with Phil Sawyer

NASS’ Fifth Annual Conference and AGM Will Be Held In

Hartford, Connecticut in September 1999.

Final dates and location will be announced in the next Compendium. The conference willinclude several talks and demonstrations as well as a bus tour of area sundials. Two of thedials we will see have been designed by NASS members, whom we hope to have with us todiscuss their work. The tour will include a visit to the pillar dial designed by the well-known dialist/author Albert Waugh. In addition to seeing a number of dials that were inWaugh’s personal collection, we will also have an opportunity to see the collection of dialingbooks his widow has donated to the library at the University of Connecticut. Thiscollection includes 162 titles covering 423 years of dialing practice.

Join in the camaraderie, catch the spirit, and be there!