Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/02/05/antarctic_stiltbase_construction_boss_goes_to_sadville/

South Pole stilt-base builder to give lecture in Sadville

Sublime to ridiculous, much?

By Lewis Page

Posted in Science, 5th February 2009 13:11 GMT

The man in charge of constructing a scientific base mounted on extending stilts at the South Pole will give a talk on his experiences next Wednesday - in Second Life, the online masquerade park popular with bedroom explorers.

Jerry Marty is the facilities construction and maintenance manager for the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, Division of Antarctic Sciences. As such, he has spent much of the last seven years as construction boss at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

The Station has a number of novel features, including powered stilt legs enabling it to be jacked up out of snowdrifts. There is also the monstrous "Ice Cube" neutrino-detector array, three times the size of the Empire State Building, sunk nearly two miles under the Antarctic ice sheet.

Marty will give his talk, "Building for Science at the South Pole", at midday UK time on 11 February, in the University of Delaware's Second Life space. Those with an avatar can attend by following this link.

People unwilling to get aboard the rapidly emptying Sadville bandwagon will be relieved to hear that there will also be a simultaneous webcast here with downloadable podcast to follow.

The talk will be introduced by Thomas Gaisser, a top Ice Cube neutrino boffin. ®