From Up Above to Down Below

It is my favorite place in Los Angeles. It sits high above the city, adjacent to the infamous Hollywood sign. But, more importantly, this location rests far below an enormous sky, filled with lots of stars and moons and planets. I am in love with the Griffith Observatory. I remember frequently visiting this location as a child on fieldtrips. At that time, it was fun to just get out of school, but now, visiting the observatory holds meaning.

It was not until this past weekend that I completely understood the significance of the observatory. I knew it was a place to look at the stars and watch the Planetarium or Lazerium show. However, I was now able to understand the names of the statues on the lawn as those of brilliant mathematicians, such as Galileo and Newton. Moreover, these are the masterminds who contributed to integral and differential calculus. If it were not for these individuals, places such as the Griffith Observatory would not exist.

I also noticed the beautiful view of Los Angeles. But, this was not just an ordinary view of the city. As I looked at the city and the infinitude of lights, I noticed that the lights were twinkling even though they were not moving. I guess this was sort of like Zeno’s first paradox with the example given in class, “A body is at rest for instance. How does this lead to motion?” With all of these stationary lights, how could they be flickering in the distance? I also noticed how the city is built like a grid. I felt as though I was looking at a graph and I could see the squares formed across the town with streets parallel and perpendicular to one another. Sunset, Santa Monica Blvd., Vermont, and Western create a huge square. If it were not for mathematicians, outer space would remain that black thing in the sky and Los Angeles would be an unorganized disaster.

Annie Vardanian, 2/19/99

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Last updated February 1999