Piggyback Science

Forrest M. Mims III

In April of 1836, what was left of the Texas army was fleeing the advancing forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. On April 21, both armies were camped where Buffalo Bayou joins the San Jacinto River east of what is now Houston, Texas.

Late on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston turned the tables on his pursuers as they were rising from their afternoon siestas. In less than 20 minutes the Texans soundly defeated Santa Anna's forces.

The Battle of San Jacinto ended the Texas revolution and culminated in the Republic of Texas. The victory was commemorated a century later with the construction of the San Jacinto Monument, the world's tallest war memorial.

The monument was constructed in exactly three years from 1936 to 1939. At 174 meters (570 feet), the monument is 4.6 meters (15 feet) higher than the Washington Monument.

The San Jacinto Monument and the battleground are well worth visiting. So is the San Jacinto Museum of History at the base of the monument.

The highlight of a visit is the viewing floor 149 meters (489 feet) over the base of the monument. Visitors are treated to a bird's eye view of the battleground below, the Houston Ship Channel and the Houston skyline. Also visible are the many petrochemical refineries around the area.

Figure 1. Science can be done with video cameras atop the San Jacinto Monument and other tall buildings. Photograph by Forrest M. Mims III.

As part of a major plan to restore the battleground to how it appeared in 1836, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department conducted some archaeology at the site in 2003. A number of artifacts were uncovered, including “musket balls, belt buckles and Mexican coins.”

Restoring the battleground to its natural condition will return native vegetation, birds and other wildlife to the center of one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the US. The manicured lawns there now will be replaced by the tall grass prairie that Houston and his men passed through on their way to Santa Anna's camp.

My favorite science idea for the site is very simple. Imagine several miniature video cameras installed on the viewing floor that would track seasonal changes in the vegetation on the battlefield and marshes below, clouds, thunderstorms and the smog layers over the most polluted areas of Houston. By placing the images from the cameras on the web, students and scientists alike could track clouds and pollution events across the sky and watch seasonal changes in vegetation.

This is a kind of “piggyback science,” in which a scientific project or study borrows space on an entirely different project.

Scientists have long used ocean going ships to sample air and water as they cross the oceans. They fly air monitoring equipment on commercial aircraft. NASA has often piggybacked scientific instruments into space aboard satellites with unused room.

Perhaps someday the San Jacinto Monument will also be used for piggyback science. And perhaps tall buildings around the world will also be used for this purpose.

Forrest M. Mims III and his science are featured online at www.forrestmims.org and www.sunandsky.org. "World of Science" columns are selected and sometimes revised from columns published in the San Antonio Express-News or the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. The columns are intended for a general audience.