sfu2 crit - people and places
FICTION
there cannot have been many world ranking astronomers to have also achieved celebrity in the worlds of botany, theology and architecture but arn saba who was born in india moved easily through these very different worlds. his parents, both diplomats migrated across the earth in accordance with their philosophy of travelling at human walking pace by establishing a roving intellectual salon that was accommodated at the world's greatest academic institutions.
he took his first degree in mathematics at magdelene college oxford, where his lifelong interest in cacti was sparked by his mother's studies at the botanical gardens and he eventually became the keeper of the national collection of the genus phalli. he was at the point of gathering a specimen from the rock face of the volcanic plug on union island in the west indies when he accidentally fell to his death
whilst studying architecture at yale he became famous for heckling visiting speakers of the modernist persuasion and for instigating the cassini huygens project responsible for the early detection of the asteroid that would have destroyed most of the sturry road had it not been deflected at the last moment by the starship uss daik. as a result he was allowed all the keys to the city and his weekend architectural projects for the bastions of the city wall will now be completed by members of the local astronomy nexus, the ascetic cult that he founded after discovering the geometrical connections between the city's medieval structure and the hershel 400 list of dim objects
he was a total loser in some respects but he will be missed by many
arn saba ... 2 june 1947 - 6 october 2003
NON FICTION