The Vdara Death Ray, or Unintended Consequences

When I was in Nottingham they installed an art installation called the Sky Mirror[1] in the center of town.

Somehow my PhD supervisor (who was a professor in astrophysics at the city's university) ended up get a consulting gig to calculate whether or not there was any danger of it focusing light and blinding anyone.

He ended up doing a media interview, where he explained that carefully placed shields would protect anyone at ground level from being at the focal point, but then he made an off-hand remark that "it might fry a few pigeons". Of course that turned out to be the only line that got repeated in the ensuing media frenzy[2].

I'm not sure that's what they had in mind when they hired him to consult for them, but we found it pretty funny.

[1] http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/about-us/sky-mirror/

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/mar/07/paulkelso1