Putting Together the Big Picture for the World Trade Center Disaster Investigation

NIST's Kathryn Butler served on the team that ordered more than 14,000 images in time and space.

View as a Web Page Taking Measure Blog Putting Together the Big Picture for the World Trade Center Disaster Investigation By Kathryn Butler, a physicist in the NIST Fire Research Division Imagine assembling a jigsaw puzzle of more than 14,000 pieces without an image on the box showing what the final picture will look like. Imagine that important pieces were missing and needed to be searched for. And imagine that this puzzle was four-dimensional, involving time as well as space. This was the task for our small dedicated team in the wake of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on Sept. 11, 2001. In the weeks following the disaster, my colleagues in the Fire Research Division and I started to think about how we might assemble the story of what had happened. Some of our puzzle pieces were images captured by news photographers, reporters from networks and local television stations, and first responders; but others came from everyday people who — witnessing an unspeakable horror — raised a camera they just happened to have on hand that day. The images were from near and far away; of one building or both; at every angle imaginable; and from the moments after the first plane strike through the collapse of the towers. They were taken with professional-grade equipment and bargain-store cameras alike. Individually, they held isolated scraps of information, but we recognized that together they stored great knowledge. Read More MORE FROM THIS SERIES 20 Years Later: NIST's World Trade Center Investigation and Its Legacy Aug. 18, 2021 The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was one of the worst-ever building disasters in recorded history — killing 2,749 people. More than 400 emergency responders were among those killed, the largest loss of life for this group in a single incident. Read More How 9/11 Changed Me and First Responder Communications Aug. 20, 2021 If you remember Sept. 11, 2001, that day is most likely imprinted on your mind like no other day. You remember what you were doing and who you were with. You may remember feeling confused and a sense of utter disbelief as you watched the results of the first plane's impact on 1 World Trade Center. You may have even thought — if only for a moment — "wow, what a tragic accident." But then, you recall how that disbelief turned into horror and anger when the second plane seemed to deliberately crash into 2 World Trade Center. In an instant, it was obvious that this wasn't an accident — but an attack on the United States. Read More

Connect with us Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.   Privacy Policy You are subscribed to receive updates from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Subscriber services: Manage Preferences  |  Unsubscribe  |  Help

 

---

If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. Technical questions? Contact inquiries@nist.gov. (301) 975-NIST (6478). This service is provided to you at no charge by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1070 · Gaithersburg, MD 20899 · 301-975-6478