Thomas MacMillan Photo
Some people get a few candles on a cake for their birthday. New Haven got a rainbow of super-powered lasers blazing through the sky from the top of East Rock.
But then, it’s not everyday that New Haven turns 375 years old.
That was was the case on Wednesday. So the city marked the occasion by firing up a site-specific public art piece called “Night Rainbow.”
The light sculpture sent a rainbow of seven laser beams across the sky, from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument atop East Rock southeast across town.
The piece is the work of artist Yvette Mattern, who’s mounted similar laser installations around the world. She was commissioned by New Haven organization Site Projects to bring “Night Rainbow” to New Haven for the 375th anniversary of the city’s founding.
Night Rainbow will shine for four nights, from about 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. Thick clouds on Wednesday night obscured the lasers somewhat from down below. But they shone brilliantly atop East Rock.
Manning the lights was 38-year-old George Dodworth (pictured). At 7:30 p.m., he was standing behind the fence around the base of the monument, waiting for darkness and chatting with curious park visitors.
Behind him, seven lasers were ready to go, set up on the top step of the monument, and on adjoining scaffolding.
Dodworth said he’s been working with lasers for 20 years. He’s traveled the world doing laser shows for musicians, including Madonna and Rihanna and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” tour. The company he works for, Pittsburgh’s Lightwave International, recently did the special laser effects for Tom Cruise’s new film, “Oblivion.”
He been working with Mattern for about three years, he said. The laser array for Night Rainbow sends visible lasers 100 miles through the sky, he said. “As a single piece, it would be among the most powerful in the world.”
Each of the seven lasers he had set up is the equivalent of thousands of handheld laser pointers, he said.
Night Rainbow required special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration, including a NoTAM, Dodworth said.
The lasers needs to be precisely set up to keep the beams properly spaced apart, Dodworth said. A tiny difference of angle can mean a beam is hundreds of feet out of line 10 miles out. On Tuesday, he did a test run with Mattern down in town, telling him which beams needed adjustment, Dodworth said.
Just after 8 p.m., Dodworth got the word from down below: Fire them up. He went down the line, switching on the lasers, and the sky erupted into color.
About a dozen people marveled at the sight from the top of East Rock, taking cell phone photos of the spectacle.
Down below, people on Orange Street in East Rock stopped and stared upward, taking pictures of their own, or just gawking.
Yale math professor Gregg Zuckerman (pictured) was out to take a look. The sight took him back five decades to the memory of one of his first mentors when he was a kid — a laser scientist. Zuckerman visited him in his lab and saw what he was doing with lasers and found the inspiration that led him to a lifelong career. “I became a professional mathematician, with a side interest in physics.”
Zuckerman said the lasers also reminded him of a rock show, “like the old Pink Floyd.”
