Popular Physics Tourist Destinations

[juming]

Hi,

I'm looking for suggestions for holiday destinations with a physics flavour.

Currently my list includes CERN, FermiLab & somewhere to view the Aurora Borealis... but please offer any suggestions you've been to, heard of, and/or are on your 'bucket list'?

I've scoured the web & these forums for something similar but without any luck... I guess I was hoping there'd be a Trafalgar Tour Science Edition or something :)

I like to consider myself an armchair physicist - I'm really just an engineer who likes to read and has an interest in theoretical & particle physics, astronomy and the history & future thereof. My wife thankfully shares my interests and we're trying to plan a late honeymoon for next year. We currently live in the most picturesque, relaxed & diverse country in the world, with the best food, wine & beaches so we're not really looking for that kind of holiday... although I haven't seen snow so I'd like to couple skiing with a visit to CERN.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions - and if you don't believe me come visit South Africa, because you obviously haven't been here before :P Although we're not really of interest in terms of this thread until the SKA is up & running IMHO (http://www.ska.ac.za" )

 

[George Jones]

Hi,

I'm looking for suggestions for holiday destinations with a physics flavour.

For possible destinations, I suggest you look at the book The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe by Anil Ananthaswamy.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions - and if you don't believe me come visit South Africa, because you obviously haven't been here before

Do you live anywhere near Lichenburg? There is a very small possibility that my wife, daughter, and I will will be in Lichtenberg sometime in the next year. My wife's brother and his wife (and now son; born in SA) has lived in Lichtenburg since August 2009.

 

[lisab]

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, or the Arts and Industries building. Both are in Washington DC:

http://www.si.edu/museums/

(N.B.: I noticed there that the Arts and Industries building will be closed for a while for a renovation.)

Also I would bet some well-known NASA sites, like Houston or Cape Canaveral, offer tours.

 

[juming]

Aha! I forgot about the Smithsonian! That's definitely going on the list.

And I've no idea where Lichtenburg is... I'm in Johannesburg

Thanks for the book suggestion too - I'm buying it now!

Cheers.

 

[renz]

physics tour...I would like to know where to go too.

I was going to suggest Mauna Kea in Hawaii, but you are not looking for that kind of vacation :)
Smithsonian would be interesting. I liked the Air and Space museum. But I personally prefer an actual lab as oppose to museum. I went to Fermi lab. There wasn't much to see really.

How about NASA Johnson space center or Kennedy space center?
At Houston You get to see the old command center that was used for the Apollo mission, real rockets/ spacecraft s, model of parts of ISS where they use to train astronauts, and if you are lucky you can see the big pool they used for training.

There are many observatories that you can visit (Keck, LSP, Kitt Peak, McDonald etc.)
Some national labs might be interesting. I'm not sure about visiting though because the restrictions are rather troublesome esp if you are not US citizen. I was at Los Alamos for a while. If you are near it's a nice place to visit.