Sabine and Stefan in Brazil
It was a great pleasure and honor to meet on January 06 my blogger colleagues Sabine and Stefan (Backreaction), here in my city (São José dos Campos) while in their recent holliday trip to Brazil.
Here is a picture that my 9 years-old son took of us (from left to right: Sabine, Stefan, me and Fabiano, my hunsband):
We are standing at the border of the so-called “Banhado“, a large green preservation area on a low plateau, a turistic point of the city. (More pictures of the Banhado can be found here).
Thanks, Sabine and Stefan, for taking your time and energy to visit us! It was a pity, however, that your passage here was too brief to allow us further conversation in person…
[Sabine also reports on our brief meeting over at Backreaction].
January 10, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Dear Christine,
it was really a great pleasure to meet you in person, and to get to know Fabiano and Pedro. Thank you very much also for the guided tour of your city – that was very interesting and complimentary to the more touristic places we have seen. Indeed, our whole trip was so short… it’s a bit of pity. Actually, we are right now just on our way to the airport.
Cheers, and hoping to meet you again, if possible,
Stefan
January 10, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I wish I could meet them. Campinas is not so far away from São José dos campos. I enjoy their blog. Next time!
January 11, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Hi Christine,
It’s nice to see people such as yourselves all meeting in your own turf and it sounds that as Stephan expressed it would have been even better if it could have been extended for a time. Then again it is wonderful that through technology such as this our access and contacts are no longer limited to time and space as for so long before had been the restriction. It was nice also to see your other half Fabiano and it’s too bad that Pedro was not also included. One thing I am curious about however is in the photo Stephan is the only one sporting shorts, so a question forms to ask if it was so chilly that only Stefan felt comfortable so attired or is he the only one comfortable with the looks of his legs?
Best,
Phil
January 11, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Hi Phil,
Yes, it was an interesting meeting, although, as already mentioned, a quick one. Sabine and Stefan arrived here at around 1:30 pm, we had a coffee, then we drove them in a small tour around the city. They left at about 3:00 pm in order to arrive just in time in Rio to return the car at 8 pm there.
The temperature was pleasant enough for using shorts. My hunsband and I would have to return to work afterwards, so our clothes corresponded to the requirements… They both seemed comfortable and at home… friendly and likable!
Yes, Pedro is missing in the pictures, everything was too fast, and we forgot to take a picture of him. But he did a good job, also in his attempt to speak English…
Best,
Christine
January 11, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Hi Christine,
One and a half hours, that was far too short a time. Also, your explanation of you and Fabiano needing to return to work solves part of the mystery, yet it doesn’t let Sabine off the hook:-) More seriously I have always had a special affinity for Brazil and more specifically Brazilian theoretical Physics, for it was one of the places where David Bohm taught and had made his influence felt. Bohm forms to be special for me both as a scientist and as a person, so Brazil and in particular the University of São Paulo are places I often thought I’d might like to visit and explore at some point. Bohm faced many personal and professional challenges in life and was so unique about how he took his science and held honest concern about the sate of society in general that he has always been a bit of a personal hero for me. Again it was nice to see a photo containing people that I consider as representing the continuance of such spirit and like wise serving as a credit to the profession.
Best,
Phil
January 11, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Again it was nice to see a photo containing people that I consider as representing the continuance of such spirit and like wise serving as a credit to the profession.
Hi Phil,
Those are really very kind words, which make me feel extremely honored.
Since you have mentioned Bohm in Brazil, I did a quick searcn in order to find more information and found an interesting report, which unfortunately is written in Portuguese (an English abstract is available). Some pictures are also available in that report.
Best,
Christine
January 11, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Hi Christine,
Thank you so much for the article written of Bohm and his history in regards to Brazil and its rise in scientific prominence. I must say that although I know some of this history what is to be found here contains information truly new to me. One problem I’ve experience though is that the translation offered ended in it being split screen with forcing one to scroll back and forth so I filtered the original page through Google,only then to discover that it translated only the first half which I have read in total. I find it so relevant and valuable that if you ever discover a translated copy in pdf I would be grateful if you forwarded it to me.
Best,
Phil
January 12, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hi Phil,
Yes, it would be valuable to find an English version. If I do, I’ll let you know.
Best,
Christine
January 13, 2009 at 8:20 am
[...] Christine, her husband. The photo was taken by her lovely son, Pedro. (Click to enlarge, and see Christine’s post on the event). “You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to [...]