TARGET 111109

The Telectroscope
It Can See to the Other Side of the Earth

Taking a look at the other side ot the world

What if you had a telescope that could see to the other side of the world? Neat idea, huh?

  

During the twilight hours Tuesday, May 20, 2008, a very strange sight greeted visitors to a pedistran area near the Tower Bridge in London, England, and visitors to Fulton Ferry Landing, by the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. In each place, a massive dirt-covered metal drill bit appeared as though it had miraculously emerged from the pavement, as if it had drilled up from the center of the earth. No explanations were given, and so, for the following two days, it was there for everyone to wonder about.

Then, during the early morning hours of May 22, the drills were replaced at each location by large, old-fashioned telescopes. They appeared to be coming out of the holes drilled by the giant drill bits. Where did this magic telescope lead? All one had to do was look through the lens to see the other side of the world. Both Londoners and New Yorkers were suddenly able to look over to the far and distant shore and stare at each other for a while (the telescope-like contraption permits visual but not vocal communication).

Of course, the trans-Atlantic tunnel is really a closed-circuit trans-Atlantic broadband network rounded off on each end with hi-def cameras and very large, round high-def screens. You could stand in Brooklyn and see people on the streets in London - and vice versa.

On the first morning, though, when the sun was up in London, it was, still nighttime in New York. So the New York screen broadcast back only an empty sidewalk silently framed by the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline. But then something miraculous occurred. A police officer and a street cleaner walked into the frame. Stopped. And waved. From that point on, Londoners even came to the Telectroscope during the early morning hours, to see whether or not they could catch someone passing by in Brooklyn. The connection was made. The same is true in the evening for the New Yorkers, since when it is late afternoon and evening in New York, it is already nighttime in London.

The Telectroscope was on display and open to the public 24 hours a day in both London and New York until June 15. On the morning of June 16, 2008, visitors to the spots found only healed ground, with no evidence that there had ever been anything there except pavement. Miracles seem to happen in London and New York, but they don't always last forever. But while this one lasted, distant friends could greet each other face to face, and if they used their cell phones, could even talk to each other at the same time. Family members were reunited as never before, and it even gave one man the chance to kneel before the Telectroscope and propose to his distant girlfriend.

All the credit for this great idea goes to British artist Paul St. George and to a company called "Artichoke". (see link, below) The housings were made of brass and wood, like old-timey hand telescopes. The tubes were 11.2-meters (37 feet) long by 3.3-meter-(11 feet) tall, and the screens inside allowedthe people on each end to see the person facing them inexactly the same size as though they were actually there in real life.

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If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

Wikipedia
Yelp.com (pictures)
You Tube video
Artichoke (the builder's) web site
TalkTalk.co.uk (comments from visitors)
CNN
Oddity Central