Drafting on cars

There was a display with 3 different type of vehicles in wind tunnels with mist to make  to show the turbulance on vehicles.  It was really cool go see the different turbulance on car a trcuk and a helicopter.  I didnt know that the different wind reaction  could create such a different movement in the vehicles. The coolest was the the heicopter which didnt really move the air much which is good because the air flow should come from fan blades.

Vienna science museum

At the Vienna science museum I spent a lot of time looking and reading the section on plastic surgery and body image. It was interesting to see the progress plastic surgery has made in the last few years and to learn more about the ways society is changing people’s thoughts on their bodies. A big take away of the section was that society’s idea of a perfect body is ever changing and strongly effected by individuals personal opinions and plastic surgery has gotten a lot better over the last few years.

Laughing Sun

I am writing about the Laughing Sun flag found at the Technology Museum in Vienna. The flag symbolizes a demonstration again nuclear power. The flag has a laughing sun because that way instead of nuclear power, it’s suggesting using the sun as an alternative source of energy. The slogan was “Nuclear Power? No thanks.”. I really liked learning about this at the museum because I think it’s so important for everyone to know about other energy sources, and this was from 1975 and it’s still used today. I also think it was hidden at the museum so I wanted more students to learn about it because it’s very important and thanks to Anne Lund, solar energy and other energy sources has been popularized.

The Silver Arrow

At the Vienna Museum of Technology I saw a Mercedes W196. The W196 was a race car that was used in the early 1950s and was driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. During this time it was extremely successful and won multiple championships. Along with the drivers, what made it successful was how fuel efficient and reliable the car was compared to its competitors.  The piece I found most interesting was that the W196 displayed was the chassis configuration used specifically on high speed circuits such as Spa, Hockenheim, and Monza. The difference between this chassis and the standard chassis was that this one had wheel covers and flowing bodywork making it more aerodynamic. This meant it had less drag down the long straights of the high speed circuits.  

Music and Technology

The Museum of Technology in Vienna has many exhibitions but the one that caught my attention the most was the music tech. The museum would be almost negligent if they didn't mention the harpsichord because of the city's musical (specifically baroque) history. The museum showcased the progression starting with things like the modern piano (a decendent of the harpsichord) and violin. From there they showed a progression from classical to contemporary music tech. Some contemporary pieces where synthesizers, amplifiers, and speakers.

Vienna science museum

At the Austrian museum of science and technology, I spent a lot of time in the music room. Like, did you know that the clarinet was invented to replace the trumpet? And there is a Reed instrument that proceeded all European Reed instruments. And like there were those self playing pianos with the paper, there was actually a self playing violin machine invented, but because it was so fragile and expensive it wasn't that popular. 

Vienna Science Museum

The most interesting thing I found at the museum were the different types of turbines used for power generation. There are many ways to create rotation motion, with different advantages and disadvantages. One of the types of turbines is a Pelton Wheel. This is a wheel with scoops all around the radius of the wheel. Each scoop has a razor sharp edge in order to split the water more efficiently and have more energy go into spinning the wheel. It was interesting to see how sharp the wheel actually had to be to be as efficient as possible. Another type of generator turbine was the impeller. These impellers are very similar to regular propellers except that they are housed in a casing with a very small gap between the tips of the blades and the inside of the wall. Each Turbine design is specifically made for a single use scenario to get the best efficiency out of it.

Pianos

During our visit to the Vienna Mueseum of Science and Technology, I spent a disproportionate amount of time amidst the surprisingly large exhibit on the developments and building of pianos. Aside from being an incredibly cool room,  both in terms of interest and temperature, the displays contained not only relics of innovation but also truly remarkable machines created for the world of the ‘player pianos’. Oftimes, music was a pastime of pubs and social gatherings. Unfortunately, many parties lasted longer than an musician was willing to play. Financially it was even more unreadable to  pay multiple bands to play throughout a night. As a way to provide musical entertainment for guests or even just for the wealthy in the luxury of their parlors, devices were created which would perform a tume on a keyboard completely hands-free. Eventually electric powered, a large spool of perforated paper would spin making contact with fine sensors of sorts which would when passing over the perfeorated bump (marked in its according position) would press down the pianos hammer on the desired key. The length of the mark on the paper determined the length the note was held. Eventually many of these devices were coin operated attractions.

Synths

At the Vienna Museum of Technology I was enamored by the section with synthesizers. Getting to listen to examples of songs that each synthesizer was used for was a fun experience. I find it particularly striking that an instrument designed to create a wide range of sounds synthetically ends up being known for characteristics unique to each synthesizer and the methods by which one might use them. So although software synthesizers are growing in popularity it seems there is still a place for and demand for older hardware synths. I also learned that the Theremin is almost 100 years old when I had thought it was a fairly recent invention. The Theremin being a strange electrically powered instrument you play without actually touching it but by just moving your hands. Overall the musical instrument section was massive and I imagine a music major would have loved to be there.

At the museum of technology I thought the Photovoltaic models and Incerter display was intriguing. It allowed for interaction with the exhibit by changing the direct current to an alternating current. Photovoltaic means to use sunlight, and Inverter is to convert direct current to alternating current. Therefore, a photovoltaic module uses sunlight to generate direct current which is then converted into  alternating current. This is converted to AC because it is more efficient to transport.

There were so many interesting exhibits at the Vienna Museum of Technology, but I especially enjoyed the, astronomical spectrometers.  I had not realized that spectrometers were used to catigorize stars for as long as they have.  I recall that the first spectrometers used on stars were  made in the 1700's. These devices are interesting as is can be used to determine the surface temperature and composition of stars simply by analyzing the light emmited from extreme distances.  This advanced our understanding of the life cycle of stars as new stars have more intense hydrogen lines than older stars.  With these instruments, astronomers could point the spectrometer at a star, star cluster, or other stellar formation and determine how old(where they are in their stellar life cycle) they are.  The power of the instrument is impressive but the exhibit was easy to pass by.  #ASTRONOMYisLI(gh)T.

At the Vienna Museum of Technology, I viewed many interesting displays. One display I found particularly interesting was the vertical Diesel engine with a DC generator. I was aware that Diesel engines were more efficient than other engines in the locomotive industry but I did not know by how much. By reading this display, I was better educated on why the locomotive industry switched to diesel powered engines. The Diesel engine was 33% efficient compared to the 14% for the triple expansion steam engine. The Diesel engine ran smoother, as it was jolt-free. It's high speeds made it highly suitable for running generators. The Diesel engine was a better choice for within residential areas due to that the amount of exhaust gas and combustion residue was comparatively small. Also, Diesel oil is a relatively flame-retardant fuel. There were many other exhibits that taught me various facts about science and technology. Overall, the museum was a very good learning experience.

Vienna Technology Museum

Today we went to the Vienna Technology Museum. There I saw a section on transportation. One thing it noted and was so true was that not many people remember their first steps or getting their training wheels off but transportation is a big part of our lives and we many times forget to understand the technology and importance behind it. In this exhibit I learned how difficult it is to use a wheelchair as I crashed into everything in the simulation. I also learned about how fast various transportation methods are via simulation. There was also a simulation of 6 different modes of transportation racing and the history of each mode. Also, I learned how different animals moved, like a squid for example and their was a map like place where you could make/place these blocks to act like bridges to see how transportation would work. It was fascinating to see how human transportation was different from a clam, squid, or bird.

Vienna Museum of Technology

There were two parts of this musuem that really stood out to me; the hands on experiments and the artifacts.  The first exibit that I explored was intitled "Nature and Knowledge", which contained a visual representation of angular momentum.  This was a topic discussed in my physics class and a topic I have taught at Loras, as a suplimentat instuctor for physics.  Sometimes students would understand the math, but not the concept inself.  So, I took a video of the hands on experiment where there are two balls spinning on a rod, then when the balls are brought closer together you can visually see the speed of the combined object increase.  I am planning to use this video to help be a visual aid when we cover this topic next year. 
I also really enjoyed seeing the prostetic arms and legs throghout time.  Since I am going into biomedical engineering, one possible specialtiy is prostetics, so I thought it was intresting to see how the style and functionality changed.  This was an high quality museum that had a wide varity of artifacts to intrest everyone.

Vienna Museum of Technology

In our free time after our tour at the Museum of Technology I found a section that was particularly interesting to me.  This section focused on the body, its functions, and the evolution of our understanding of the human body.  There were several displays of human figures that revealed the inside of the body with descriptions of its functioning. Though this whole section was very interesting to me, I was particularly interested in the display on the Phrenology of the Brain.  From one of my psychology classes I knew that a physician named Franz Joseph Gall labelled/sorted different areas of the brain into different specialized functions.  This is known as Phrenology of the Brain.  The image shown is an example of his localized labels, a concept that is no longer followed in the field of psychology today.  I learned a lot more about Phrenology from this display.  I learned that Phrenology was originally named Organology.  This label was given because he identified 27 different "organs" of the brain- each with a different function.  I learned that Gall believed different mental illnesses came from damages to each of these different sections of the brain.  I also learned that Gall's work only became known because of Gustav Scheve.  In the 1840's Scheve widely spread the discipline of phrenology.  Furthermore and lastly, I learned that Scheve actually got into trouble with the government for publishing a work called Katechismus der Phrenologie which connected psychology, medicine, education, and religion all in one work.  This was a very interesting display, and a great addition to the Museum of Technology in Vienna, Austria.

Electrotechnical Museum

The Electrotechnical museum in Budapest was a wonderful site. It was filed with replicas and original items from the times of advancements in electrical technology. Most of these technologies were advancements in motors and included some of the first. One of the replicas there was of the very first electric motor invented by Jedlik Anyos in the 1800's. This motor was a very basic version of a series wound D.C. motor, which is commonly used today for forklifts.

The most interesting invention there was a flat plate with a certain pattern of wire coiled below it. When you run an alternating current through the wire, it creates a magnetic field. With a copper egg places on the surface, the egg sits with the widest part down. When the coil is activated, the egg starts spinning on its side. Eventually the egg will invert itself and begin spinning on its tip. This invention was made by Nikola Tesla and led to the invention of the Asynchronous Alternating Current Induction motor. Which is used today for almost everything in industry.

PACE Project

For my PACE project, I went to the Hungarian Natural History Museum(HNHM) and the Electrotechnical Museum.  The HNHM had a mixture of biological and geological exhibits that could satisfy the interests of visiting students interested in the sciences.  The Electrotechnical museum would also suit then interests of someone studying science, specifically student studying electrical engineering.  The museum exhibited various innovations in technology, electricity generation methods and visualizations of the electrification of Budapest.   I fund these museums interesting and I hope others will too.

Pharmacy Museum

I went to the pharmacy museum up in the castle district with Bobby. The entrance was cheap, 400 forint and 600 extra for pictures. There was a lot of medical equiptment and text books there. There was a room sep up that was made to look like a workspace that one of the pharmacists would have used. We couldn't go in, but it looked amazing. The only downside is that all the plaques were in Hungarian. Luckily they provided a laminated English sheet that told you what things were, but it didn't tell all the information. Overall, it was a cool place to visit, and I'd highly recommend it.

Postal Museum

As part of the PACCE program, others and I visited the Hungarian Postal Museum. Though the name shares very little inclination towards and relation to science and technology, the quaint exhibit hosted a variety of developments used to enhance Hungary’s postal service. Amongst such advancements were specially made delivery vehicles and telecommunications devices. The out-of-the-way location of this museum made it an incredibly personal experience when the entire exhibit was essentially private for our small group. That, in addition to the interactive devices such as a telephone switchboard and what was basically an early instant messaging device using typewriters, made the experience all the more enjoyable and entertaining to learn about the scientific creations which fostered communication in earlier days.

Postal Museum

Visited the Post Office Museum in an effort to find more science museums in the Budapest area! It is in a small part of town just a few M1 stops from oktogan square, it is a small exhibition of each the postal, telegraph, telephone, and radio systems through out their earliest iterations. Hungary was an innovative plcplace at the start of the postal service. They were the first to use motor vehicles instead of bikes to collect and deliver mail, they invented the postal boxes that had automatic emptying through the bottom into a canvas bag, and they invented a secure lock that ties the mail bags shut that is still in use today. When it came to the telephone they were one of the first countries to create everything required to put the telephone under state control and expand it across the entire country. They also set up a radio center after the initial testing and repair shops for radios as time went on, and built an outstanding structure to transmit signals that supported itself and transmitted signal.

A side note there were two people working and they were so excited to see us and a lot of the stuff that they had still worked and this lady who didn't speak English showed us all of it and it was super fun and interactive, and we learned a lot about the old way people communicated and the inventions that got us closer to the communication system we have today!

PACCE - post museum

The additional location I went to for the PACCE project was the Budapest Post Museum.  The museum was all about Hungarian post, telegraph, telephone and radio history. It was a small museum and they didn’t seem to get many visitors but it was a very interesting place.  The museum’s collection was started in 1881 and was originally only postal material.  In 1887 the post and telegraph offices merged which lead to the combined museum obviously being called the post museum.  One of the most interesting facts to me was that Hungary was the first postal service in Europe to start using a motor car for postal deliveries before that it was all done on bikes.  We also learned about the telegraph and telephone services in Hungary and even got to use old typewriters and telephone systems while there.  The last section of the museum discussed the radio and the construction of the cigar shaped antenna in 1933. I also went to the Gellert baths with the first wave pool and the pinball museum which were not directly related because of their lack of information but worth a mention because they were very cool sites.

Postal Museum

On Friday May 25th we went to the Postal Museum of Budapest. It was a beautiful museum, and they only get between one and twenty people per day. A fun fact about the Hungarian Post Office, is that it was the first country to use a delivery car instead of using a bike to transport mail. Also, while under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Dr. Emanuel Hermann suggested the idea of the postcard, which was the first postcard in the world. Hungary is also known for the invention of the lock, which is placed outside on the public mailbox's. Another fun fact is that the postal system became so popular that the mailmen would have to empty the mailbox's six to seven times a day because they would be so full! With all the inventions and technology that came from Hungary, we thought that this was a great place to go for our project on the History of Science and Technology.

 

Pharmacy Museum

I went to two places in hopes that they would be appropriate for the PACCE project. The first was the House of Terror which was a museum showcasing the horrors of both the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Hungary. Although the House of Terrors was an incredible museum and experience overall, it had little to do with Science and Technology and would therefor be inappropriate for the project. Thankfully I also had the chance to visit the Pharmacy Museum by the Citadel near Buda Castle. This of course had significantly more to do with science and although it might not have been a large museum, it did house a great deal of medical artifacts and information about the development of pharmaceuticals in Hungary. Not only was it informational but also very cheap at only 400 forint for students.

In order to add to the pacce project, a few other students and I went the electrotechnical museum in Budapest. At the electrotechnical  museum we were able to observe some of the inventions we use today, as well as their transition through time. There was a room entirely full of interactive items.  For example, there was a replica of Telsa’s egg and it actually worked! It was an exceptional way to learn about the changes in innovation and the impact that inventions have on our everyday life. 

  In addition to the electrotechnical museum, I visited the Gellért baths where the first wave pool was created. It wasn’t directly educational, but it was extremely interesting and would be a great experience for someone studying technology especially if doing a research project, they could look up the history and technical advances it took to create the wave pool. 

Electrotechnical Museum

This Friday (May 25th 2018) I visit the Electrotechnical Museum of Budapest with a few or my classmates.  I will be using this site as my extra attraction while creating my brochure for the PACCE project.  I learned a lot of new things about engineering from not only the workers at this museum but from some of my other classmates as well.  We discussed magnetic fields, batteries, circuits, energy, and many other topics related to engineering and physics.  We played with Tesla's egg and learned a lot about Ganz and other individuals that were crucial to the development of the electric motor.  Furthermore, I will also be including the Gellert Baths of Budapest on my Brochure as another attraction to see and learn about while in Budapest, Hungary!  The baths, a unique attraction to Hungary, were a great place to sit and relax while doing reading for class.

Museum of Pharmacy

For the PAACE project a few of us decided to go to the pharmacy museum in the castle district. The building itself is history by orginally housing a 15th century alchemist's laboratory. The building was later converted to a pharmacy, and 40 years ago was made into a museum. Their showcases of alchemist equipment, prescription books, and medicine jars were extensive for the 3 rooms the museum consisted of. Being a biochemistry student, this exhibit was phenomenal, and it provided great context and history for pharmaceutical research.

For our PACCE Project, we need to each make a brochure for possible students studying in Budapest, Hungary. This brochure will be sent to the University and shall include multiple recommendations for sites to see that pertain to the history of science and technology. From tours with the group, we have many options to chose from to include. Friday afternoon, we spent time exploring other options on our own. I went to the Electrotechnical Museum.

The first part of the museum was an interactive display room. This display allowed you to play around with the experiments on your own. For instance, there was a display that showed yourself as a human battery. Other main experiments included Jacob’s Ladder and a magnetic field representation. In the other part of the museum, all of the  artifacts related to science and technology. In one of the rooms, it had various glass cases. Each case was filled with the same item but from a different time. It was set up like a timeline. For example, one showed many razors from a large range of years. This museum had a lot of very interesting artifacts that I would recommend seeing.

Electrotechnical Museum

On Friday, May 25th, 2018 I visited the Electrotechnical Museum. It was essentially the electrical engineering of Hungary museum. At the museum there were several artifacts from the Ganz Foundry Museum which we visited Saturday the 26th. We also learned about several great Hungarians such as Liptay Imre, Krizs Ferenc, Galusz Mikos, and Szalay Gyula. There was also a bunch of stuff we could play around with. One item measured how good of a battery I was. I was great compared to our group. Another showed myself and others how a magnetic field worked. Another item when hand cranked used positive and negative charges to move a ball back and forth.

Science Connecting Hungarian Culture

There are many instances where science plays a role in Hungarian Culture.  I was surprised to discover that there was science incorporated into the Holocaust Memorial Center and Hungarian National Gallery.  During the Holocaust, especially in Auschwitz (where a majority of the prisoners were Hungarian), there were multiple inhumane medical experiments performed on twins.  These experiments led to observations of the effects and treatments of hypothermia, malaria, and mustard gas burns.  While these experiments were cruel and unjustified, they did lead to advancements in the medical field.  For the National Gallery, there was a section that discussed the chemicals and tools needed in order to prevent cracking and peeling of the paint, as well as the restoration of the pigments.  Not only is the National Gallery a place to see beautiful artwork, you can also learn about the restoration process. 
The final place I visited was the Arany Sas Patikamuzeum, which was a pharmaceutical museum.  The building was used as a pharmacy from the 18th century till WWI, and contained helpful information sheets to help explain the many artifacts from the old store.  These sites seem to be unrelated to each other, but all connecting to together through the common thread of chemistry and medicine.

Test

Test post.

On May 22nd we went to the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. The first exhibit was on the impact of horses on Hungarian agriculture, warfare, and sport. The most interesting aspect was how the Hungarians were very innovative in the use of horses in war. The Hungarians invented a new type of saddle to spread the weight of the rider across the horse's back. Hungarians also placed a big emphasis on the horse mounted archer. The extensive use of horses by the Hungarians resembles the Mongolian Empire. The most striking part of this is that they had very similar innovations but never came in contact with one another.  

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During our tour of the Hospital in the Rock we were met with what I thought was an unexpected but very much welcome section about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I view these two bombings as one of the big "What ifs?" of history and many like to speculate about the necessity of the action. I'm really glad then that I got to see some artifacts from the bomb site as it helps me get a more tangible connection to the past. It was also cool to see three museums very far away from each other collaborate in the way that they did as the materials they received for the exhibit were from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

One of my big takeaways from the nuclear exhibit was more concrete understanding of nuclear weapons actual power. The exhibit illustrated the blast radius of various nuclear bombs that have been developed and their fallout impact by superimposing the blast radius over google maps images of major cities. By no means did I become less afraid of nuclear warfare after seeing the exhibit I originally thought contemporary blast radii were larger than they were depicted as. That alone pushes me to think nuclear awareness is as relevant as ever as these bombings move further and further into the past.

Museum of Agriculture and Hungarian Horse Breeding

The morning of our first complete day in Budapest was noted by a trip to the beautiful grounds of the Hungary Museum of Agriculture. As part of this visit we received a tour of their Hungarian equestrian history exhibit. Amongst other information we were given, was the military importance and necessity of horse culture in the development of the Hungarian people. For example, the Magyars, the personal identity of the Hungarians were a people originating from the many mongol-like horse warriors of the Asian steppes.

Surprisingly however, the methods of horse warfare, including the unique skill of horseback bowmanship developed totally separately from the infamous mongols. Because of their superior use of the horse, the Hungarians thrived as a peoples with a noted cornerstone of their military continuing to be an effective force behind their light cavalry 'Hussars'. Unfortunately for the Hungarian people, the methods of war changed and horse warfare became obselete. The outdated use of the horse ended up leading to greater accomplishments for Hungarian horse breeding, including the growth of Hungarian agriculture, the creation of new carriages such as the 'Coach' (named after the Hungarian town in which it was created) and world class horse racing like Kincsem who holds the record for most victories while remaining undefeated.

On day 3 in Budapest, we toured the Hospital In The Rock. This was my favorite tour. The hospital was used in primarily during World War II. The hospital is built within underground caves. Although the caves are cold, with a high population of patients during the war, it averaged 36 degrees Celsius. During the war, 700 patients would be in the hospital at a time, even though the maximum was 200 patients. We learned about the medical care, the war and nuclear warfare. In the military part, they showed a scene of the Hungarian military helping out the American soldiers. In the nuclear part, they showed size comparisons of multiple nuclear bombs. At the end, they showed current day Hiroshima. They also had many colorful paper cranes which stand for a long life of health and happiness. Overall, it was a wonderful tour.

Bridge Tour

 One of the most interseting tours we have been on in my eyes was the bridge tour.  I found it interseting because of it history and science as a pair.  Wth that being said, the cities of Buda and Pest have, in the past, struggled to create a perminant bridge to connect themselves.  At first they would make temporary bridges, use barges, or even ride across the ice during the winter.  Next, after the bridge was built the engineers had to handle the problems of ice and the growth and expation of the bridge depending on the time of year.  Finally, in the following years durning WWII the Nazis tried to bomb and destroy the bridge.  The good news is though that the bridge did not collapsed and only needed repairs in the middle of it.

Over the past 4 days, I would have to say my favorite place we have visited as a class was Hospital in the Rock. Hospital in the Rock was built in a cave and  used as a running hospital during WWII. The need for the hospital was unbelievable. Due to their high demand, the hospital has terrible working conditions and patient conditions. They were over capacity by 500 people causing the hositpal to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s as hot as a hot tub). Over capacity caused improper space between people causing widespread bacteria, increased temperature, and being forced to reuse materials. To further explain, the employees of the hospital were forced to reuse gauze and bandages from dead bodies. I couldn’t imagine personally experiencing this.

Wine making in Budapest

During the year 1776, Hungary was already perfecting the art of wine making.  The Hungarians had devices used for squeezing grapes with decades of experience. The grapes were squeezed in a press using a large weight made of wood with a lead screw to raise the press. This shows the technological advancements of a country that had been inhabited for many centuries versus the country that was just born when the press was made, the United States of America.

A lead screw is a very simple device but with a large idea behind it. It is a continuous inclined plane twisted around a central rod. This idea had been used since the times of Aristotle to even raise water from lower areas, in fact it is also known as the Archimedes screw. The Hungarians using this mechanism to lift a heavy object makes sense with the application. Having a high static holding force is an inherent trait of the lead screw making them ideal for the situation. My engineering background helps me understand the benefits of using one idea over another, with the date helping me realize just how young our country is.

Hospital in the Rock

Yesterday, May 25th, we went to the Hospital in the Rock Museum. The hospital itself was fascinating in the way that it was built underground. We found out that before it was a hospital ungerground, families used the caves as cellars to store their food. We learned that when the hospital first opened, it was only meant for victims of the air raids, and was supposed to hold 60 people. They then opened it up to more people due to necessity. At one point they had more than 700 patients there. The wounded were piled up everywhere. The smell was wretched and the rooms were hot. Like, over 100 degrees fahrenheit hot. Conditions were miserable, and then their water line got damaged in an air raid and they no longer had any water. People may not have died from their wounds, but they did from infection. With no running water, no new supplies, and plenty of dead bodies, they had to cut old bandages off the dead and use them on the living without sanitizing them.

Under the communist regime, they build a secret shelter that was supposed to filter the air and be safe from any nuclear bombs.  They had air filters set to clean the air every 2 hours. However, only the higher up officials knew about the shelter. In order to get into the shelter in case a nuclear bomb did go off, the people would have to go through a decontamination chamber, have their head shaved, and put on an outfit and facemask that basically erased any individuality. Later in the tour we were looking at the blast radius of the nuclear bombs. Currently Russia has a crazy nuclear bomb that is like, 200 times the size of the Fat Man and Little Boy. I was surprised about the size of the current nuclear weaponry. To think that the fallout of the bombs blast radius would engulf an enormous amount of territory, and the wind blowing the radioactive material could effect an entire country.

Bridge Tour

On Wednesday we met up with a dude near the Liberty Bridge.  This bridge is the shortest of all the bridges in town, bridging the gap made by the river between Buda and Pest, and the only one that didn't get fully destroyed in WWII. With its impressive steal design it was only damaged in the middle and not smashed to bits to float down the waters of the Danube River like the many other bridges in town. When the bridge was first build the emperor put in the last rivet which was made of silver in a secret location in one or the bridges trusses.
In the summer of 2016 the bridge was closed to the traffic of cars, trams, and busses for construction near the bridge so the people decided to go out on the bridge and have a picnic on it so for a few months the bridge was just a party spot!

Hospital in the Rock

On Wednesday we got a tour of the hospital in the rock. The hospital was built by expanding and connecting the existing natural caverns under the Buda Castle in preparation for World War II. Construction on the caves started in 1939 and was finished in 1944. The hospital was originally opened for only air raid victims but was quickly opened up to everyone. It was built for 60 patients but expanded to 200 shortly after opening however after the seige of Budapest during World War II over 600 patients were being treated. It was fascinating to see the medical equipment and supplies they had been using during that time.

Hospital in the Rock - Dana Mueller

Since arriving in Budapest, Hungary I have been surprised and amazed!  My favorite site so far has been Hospital in the Rock.   Upon touring this site we went through a tunnel system that was built under Buda Castle and included hospital, operating, storage, and communication rooms.  The hospital was well equipped for the time with x-ray machines and back up generators.  I was so amazed by the fact that everything during the tour was running on those same generators from back when the hospital was in operation.  Furthermore, I learned a lot about the impacts of war.  Budapest, as a close ally to Germany, was hit hard by the effects of World War II.  We were shown many images of the destruction left after the war.  Worst of all, not only was the city destroyed, but the hospital was cut off of all supplies.  This left the hospital without water and to reuse supplies such as old bandages from dead bodies. 

Liberty Bridge

On Wednesday we toured the Liberty Bridge, the first permanent bridge across the Danube.   We learned about the struggles of transport across the river due to the freezing in the winter and the high flow.  Prior to the construction of the bridge, pontoon bridges were becoming insufficient at moving things across the river.  I found it interesting that the bridge was partially destroyed during World War II but was repaired to the pre-war state rather than building a new bridge.  Another interesting bit about the bridge is that the middle section of the bridge is held in place by four large bolts.   This bridge helped further connect Pest and Buda when it was constructed, and it is likely on of the most important structures in the history of the city.

Hospital in the Rock

On Wednesday May 23, 2018 our group visited Hospital in the Rock.  This site was a hospital run by the Red Cross during WWII and during a uprising against the Soviets.  The architect used the natural cave system to construct this shelter.  Originally the hospital was meant to be used for civilians only, but they soon had to expand this to soldiers as well.  So the hospital was often over max capacity with people laying sometimes 2 to a bed.  Later, a new section of cave was converted into a bomb shelter during the Cold War.  Luckily, this section never had to be used for its intended purpose.  This portion now contains a section warning against nuclear weapons with pictures and artifacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I grew up learning about this event because my Mom's uncle worked on the Manhattan Project, but I don't think it felt personal to me until this museum.  I was in awe that one little girl's lunch box was found in the clean up of the disaster where you could still see the shapes of peas and rice she brought for lunch, but the little girl was never found.  This museum not only provided a memorial for the doctors and nurses that worked continuously to heal the wounded, but also a warning of the destruction that war causes.

The Red Cross and the Hospital in the Rock

On Wednesday we visited the Hospital in the Rock where they highlight the work that the Red Cross did during WWII, and the implications of nuclear warfare since the end of the second World War. One aspect I thought was interesting was that the Germans, and subsequently the Russians, would eventually conquer Budapest; however, regardless of the brutality of the Germans, they would allow the Red Cross facility to function. This was extremely important for the survival of civilians that incurred injuries during the bombings raids and sieges.

Hospital on the Rock

Today, May 23, 2018, our group visited the Hospital on the Rock. There we visited some caves that during World War 2 had been used for healing the wounded. Initially intended for air raid injuries it was soon open to all injured. My favorite part was when we learned about the size and destructive power of atomic and nuclear bombs. In particular they had artifacts that were from Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the time of the bombs. I also learned that they used chloroform to put the patients in the operating room to sleep. Another interesting thing was that the Hungarian government later built a nuclear bunker down there and didn't tell anyone.

Museum of Hungarian Agriculture

Our first group activity was to the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, this is me outside of the building. Two of the places inside that we got a personal tour of was the history of horses in agriculture, as well as the history of wine in Hungary. We learned about horses and how they helped farmers, but my favorite part was learning about the famous racehorse Kincsem. Kincsem in Hungarian means "My Treasure", and was the most successful race horse ever, with the winning record being 54 out of 54 races. We even saw the skeleton of Kincem. As for learning about the wine, I learned about how important it was to the country of Hungary, and I am also very excited to try Hungarian wine on this trip!