When I was a kid, I was infatuated with Legos. Who am I kidding? I am still infatuated with Legos! Imagine when I realized that my love of oceanography and my long ignored love of Legos could be combined. Below the fold are some wonderful examples of what $1000 worth of Legos and too much free time can yield. You can see more of these here, here, and here.
All this reminds me several years ago when I spotted a Lego Technics set that was of Alvin. As a poor graduate student I didn’t purchase it, a decision I regret weekly. Does anybody remember this or know where to get one?
Craig McClain is the Executive Director of the Lousiana University Marine Consortium. He has conducted deep-sea research for 20 years and published over 50 papers in the area. He has participated in and led dozens of oceanographic expeditions taken him to the Antarctic and the most remote regions of the Pacific and Atlantic. Craig’s research focuses on how energy drives the biology of marine invertebrates from individuals to ecosystems, specifically, seeking to uncover how organisms are adapted to different levels of carbon availability, i.e. food, and how this determines the kinds and number of species in different parts of the oceans. Additionally, Craig is obsessed with the size of things. Sometimes this translated into actually scientific research. Craig’s research has been featured on National Public Radio, Discovery Channel, Fox News, National Geographic and ABC News. In addition to his scientific research, Craig also advocates the need for scientists to connect with the public and is the founder and chief editor of the acclaimed Deep-Sea News (http://deepseanews.com/), a popular ocean-themed blog that has won numerous awards. His writing has been featured in Cosmos, Science Illustrated, American Scientist, Wired, Mental Floss, and the Open Lab: The Best Science Writing on the Web.
11 Replies to “Lego Research Vessels”
AWESOME!! WANT!! Oh man, if Elliot were just a year or 2 older… Right now he thinks legos are something which should be thrown across the room or lined up end to end. He did get into stacking, but hasn’t gotten too creative. Of course, anything that he builds, like a simple tunnel to drive his cars through, his 14 mo. old sister immediately smacks it down! Which results in a temporary fit and it all escalates downhill from there…
Sorta like this one? I’ve still got that one at home somewhere (well, all the pieces anyway). The pneumatics blew my mind at that age.
I do recall this one as well. However, it is not the one I was thinking of. As I recall the model really, really looked like Alvin.
Our research operations manager has an ROV and Alvin lego model (at least it looks like the alvin) along with a tendre vehicle with a-frame etc… really pretty cool. Have to see if he’ll let me post a pic…
I’ve looked through the entire Technic collection and don’t see any that look like Alvin, though I also found the one that Aaron linked.
AWESOME!! WANT!! Oh man, if Elliot were just a year or 2 older… Right now he thinks legos are something which should be thrown across the room or lined up end to end. He did get into stacking, but hasn’t gotten too creative. Of course, anything that he builds, like a simple tunnel to drive his cars through, his 14 mo. old sister immediately smacks it down! Which results in a temporary fit and it all escalates downhill from there…
Sorta like this one? I’ve still got that one at home somewhere (well, all the pieces anyway). The pneumatics blew my mind at that age.
Blarg. Image link: http://www.nd.edu/~lego/grp2/www/graphics/lego/8250.jpg
I do recall this one as well. However, it is not the one I was thinking of. As I recall the model really, really looked like Alvin.
Our research operations manager has an ROV and Alvin lego model (at least it looks like the alvin) along with a tendre vehicle with a-frame etc… really pretty cool. Have to see if he’ll let me post a pic…
I’ve looked through the entire Technic collection and don’t see any that look like Alvin, though I also found the one that Aaron linked.
Are you sure it was Technic? Lego had a pretty decent (more realistic than their sci-fi-ish Aquanauts lines, anyway) Divers subtheme:
http://www.brickset.com/search.aspx?Subtheme=Divers&Theme=Town
I am positive it was a technics set but not the ones linked to here yet.
thanks
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thanks…