Grumpy Physicist

This peeved-looking person is a major character in my imaginary world of Noantri. He is both a physicist and a high-powered techno-magic user. He is famous for having re-discovered the relationship between magic and conventional energies. Currently he is Director of Research at the Institute of Applied Magic in Surakosai city. You may recall my depiction of Surakosai city ages ago. His name is Tanheu, and he is from a foreign country called Khemi. In my portrait he was 60 years old. He just turned 67 this year, on September 7.

So having attained high status in his field, why does this great scientist look so grumpy? And why is he sitting in a corner without his boots on? And what is he thinking? Well, the writing is a combination of mathematical symbols and arcane scientific terminology. It is in his native language, Khemi, rather than the Common Noantri language. He isn't wearing his boots for the simple reason that he is indoors, and you don't wear your shoes indoors.

And why is the physicist grumpy? Because some problems are so difficult that not even a master techno-mage can solve them. The theorist says, "The math is ugly so it can't be right." The experimentalist says, "Just build us the Superconducting Mage-ionic Particle Accelerator" and we'll discover the Great Unity of Seven Forces." None of this has yielded any results and the Accelerator doesn't exist yet. So he considers what form of approach he could use to solve the Problem of Humanoid Interface, let alone the Direction of Time. What is the approach? That is why he is sitting on the floor. He is waiting for his cats to come to him and give him insights. After all, cats are beyond the laws of physics so they may have information that mere Noantri lack.

Sketch is ink on sketchbook page, about 3" x 3", sometime in 2002.