Exactly 2 years ago I met one of the most interesting people of my life. I was doing a Q&A for the Chelsea supporters in Los Angeles when I came across a guy called Chris.
He invited me to the Mount Wilson Observatory and he would check in with me every now and then telling me it would be a pleasure to show me around. I would text him back and say I will let you know when I can come over.
Years went by, but this weekend I decided to go to Pasadena for a hike. I texted him on Saturday evening and I got a reply within 5 minutes. I was super excited and took Rose with me knowing that she is a big fan of Astrology. We both went on this adventure not knowing what we would encounter. When we arrived we found out that during the 20th Century Mount Wilson was the most famous observatory in the world. The biggest telescopes were here and their new designs were changing the way astronomy was done.
We arrived and from a distance I could see this big smile and knew that it was the great Chris. He had just finished two night shifts over the last two days – he has learned to live at night while most of us are snoring away. He was determined to show us around and share the knowledge he’s accumulated over the last 11 years working at the observatory.
One of the first things Chris told me was that where I was standing on the bridge was the same place Albert Einstein had stood. I was like dude if I stay here I might get 2% of his intelligence. Chris said: “If it wasn’t 30 degrees I would stay here with you, but the sun is killing and we need to go into the telescope.”
As we entered the magical rooms we saw the telescopes called the 60-inch Hale and the big one – the 100-inch Hooker. This was where they personally produce the lenses and mirrors, and where they read the light and the shape of the stars.
This is where the child in me came out and I started to ask a lot of questions. One of the best answer he gave me was when I asked: “Do you think people will start traveling to space eventually?”
He said: “Look Mario, back in the day only countries could afford to pay for this expensive journey, but now the individuals are so wealthy and intelligent that they will try to make it more accessible to the public. But that will take some time”.
Then the explanation followed regarding Mr Edwin Hubble.
In 1919, American astronomer Edwin Hubble tackled the big question at the time – where the misty, spiral objects in the sky clouds of gas in the milky way or clusters of stars far outside our galaxy. He combined his astronomical knowledge with the powerful Hooker telescope on top of Mount Wilson. He used the telescope’s to take photographs of the great nebula in Andromeda, and for the first time, the images revealed faint stars in the nebula.
After all of this amazing knowledge and history, the topic of our conversation turned to football the story about Matic going to Manchester. We both agreed that Mourinho is the master in making his competitors weak by pinching their top players so we were shocked that Chelsea allowed such a great player to go to their direct competitors.
It might turn out to be a bad move later in the season. Let’s hope the ups and downs of preseason are nothing to expect, but with the main man Hazard out I’m not sure if the team is out of balance and needs to readjust. If that’s the case I hope they do so on time, or it will be catch up time from the first league match.
One thing for sure is that Chris and I are buddies now and I’ve already apologized in advance because I’m not done picking his brain. He’s a great soul and a living book of great knowledge.
#mmlove