UM scientist gains glory as cartoon

University of Maine astrophysicist Neil Comins certainly has enjoyed great success in his efforts to make cosmic complexities understandable to the average earthling.

His nine books – the 10th, “The Hazards of Space Travel: A Tourist’s Guide,” is due out in April – have sold more than a half-million copies around the world. And last year, one of those books, “What if the Moon Didn’t Exist,” was adopted as the theme of an elaborate multimedia attraction in the Mitsubishi Pavilion at the World Expo 2005 in Nagoya, Japan.

But after recently becoming a cartoon character who entertains and teaches the crowds each day at a popular Disney-like resort near Nagasaki, the Maine astronomer is walking around with his head in the clouds.

“I almost have to pinch myself to believe that the nonacademic world has been so interested in what I’ve written,” Comins said Wednesday.

When the World Expo closed after a six-month run, Mitsubishi sold its Comins-based science show to the Huis Ten Bosch family resort, which is using it as a centerpiece of its revitalization efforts after 14 years in business.

At a theater in the resort’s new Kirara Pavilion, the show employs the latest computer graphics and cinematic technology to explore some of the fundamental questions regarding our place in the solar system. In the first third of the show, Comins appears as an animated Einstein-like character who tries to explain to an inquisitive boy, based on Comins’ 21-year-old son, James, how very different our world would be if the moon didn’t exist.

It’s a question that goes to the very core of life on Earth, Comins said. For one thing, our moon would not have been created had the Earth not collided with a Mars-like body some 41/2 billion years ago. And without the moon, our planet would be spinning four to five times faster than it does today, causing wildly unfamiliar and violent weather patterns. The collision formed a moon that originally was 10 times closer to the Earth than it is now, causing tides a thousand times greater than they are today. Those extraordinary tides, sweeping inland for miles and then back out every three hours, constantly washed vast amounts of minerals into the ocean, forming the primordial soup from which life was spawned.

“The exhibit takes you on a ride through a world that is violent and, though not quite lifeless, very threatening,” said Comins, who was feted at the Japanese pavilion’s opening last Saturday. “Then a curtain surrounding the whole theater goes up, revealing mirrors that provide the effect of infinity, and the show goes on to give you a breathtaking summary of the wonders of the world.”

Comins said he was pleased after the debut to see the audience leave the theater with smiles on their faces.

“My feeling is that when people are presented with such questions, and the answers to some of those questions are given in a way they can understand and enjoy, it actually has the effect of changing their perspective on life and gives them a new way to look at the world.”

Writing and teaching at UMaine has always been immensely satisfying for Comins, and having his work highlighted at the World Expo is an experience he’ll never forget. But being the star of his own science show – now that’s a heavenly experience indeed.

“It’s one thing to publish papers and do research, but becoming a cartoon character is an honor I could never have imagined,” he said with a chuckle.