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What
Time is it?
Last week, a project with a
130-year history culminated in the installation of a new
sundial in the Morris House courtyard near Green Street,
replacing the original sundial given by the Class of 1883
on its 40th reunion. Their gift replaced the
initial Class of 1883 senior gift, an elm tree planted there,
which had fallen victim to disease.
The new sundial project was
taken up a couple years ago by a group of art and computer
science students, who recreated the sundial's image on paper,
in clay and online, and finally as a three-dimensional plasticine
model used for a new bronze cast sundial, which was installed
last week by Suzan Edwards, professor of astronomy, and David
Dempsey, associate director of museum services, Museum of
Art.
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The new sundial, revived and re-created by the Class
of 2010, was installed last week in the Morris House
courtyard, atop a new granite pedestal.
Click on images below for larger views.
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The
bronze sundial was cast from a plasticine model made
by Makana Hiroshe '10, based on the original. |
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The
new white granite pedestal, which replaces the original
marble pedestal, was made by Granite Importers, of Vermont. |
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The
sundial's gnomon had to be aligned according to the
transit of the sun, and was calibrated
at the exact time that the sun would transit the meridian. |
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At precisely
12:46 p.m. on the day of calibration, Suzan Edwards created
a plumb bob and marked the exact line of the shadow on
the pedestal. The next day the sundial was affixed to
the pedestal with the gnomon following the line traced
along the transit of the sun. |
photos by David Dempsey |
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