Ashten- Deutsches Museum

 The overall tour was fascinating. The museum itself was very magical and I felt drawn to all the items on display, especially that of the music section. The instruments in all their glory were a centerpiece in my mind. I thought it was incredible seeing the background information and learning about the different varieties of organs on display. You only get to see the organ in a church scene so it was very nice seeing the pieces all in a large room.

I found the science exhibit intriguing as I am not well versed in science but the exhibit was shown in a sense that I felt as if I did understand it.

Deutsches Museum

 The Deutches Museum in Munich has a grand variety of exhibits to explore. We learned about chemistry, microbiology, music history, and many other fascinating items significant to German culture.

My favorite exhibit from the guided portion of our tour was the section dedicated to transistors and laser technology. This past spring semester, I took a course titled “Design, Simulation, and Fabrication of Microelectromechanical Systems,” or MEMS for short. Participating in that course alongside Modern Physics really opened my eyes to the multitude of captivating niches within engineering physics and provided an entry-level understanding of the exhibit our guide, Alex, spent about 20 minutes on. 

Alex went over the history and function of these devices in sufficient detail, then expanded our knowledge further regarding the economic and international complexities of developing these technologies. He mentioned that everything in science that appears to be exponential at first in terms of efficiency with respect to time usually is an illusion and actually follows the trend of an S-curve. That is, there is a limit to how far we can go. For example, it will not be possible to manufacture silicon transistors that take up less space than the atom’s lattice parameter.

Whether we work around this issue by reinventing the technology or remain stuck for several millennia, the progress we’ve seen with computing technology is a crucial aspect pertaining to the advancement of our civilization as a whole. I hope to see more sci-fi technologies come to fruition in my lifetime, and I wish to see this in a way that promotes life rather than destroys it. 

Deutches Museum

 Something that I found incredibly interesting right off the start of our tour was the original first ever Diesel engine. Diesel is a less refined version of gasoline and is used in many larger private/industrial machines. The way Otto Diesel happened to come up with the idea, then pursue it for 20 years and reach success is a great story. I also found it interesting when our tour guide told us about his disappearance and how it was likely the government taking him out. This is ironic as this exact case of a new revolutionary technology getting someone murdered over rights has happened in many cases. 

Alex: Deutsches Museum

Alex Miller

Our time at the Deuches Museum was incredibly interesting today. I see what you meant by one if the world's largest science museums, as I felt as if I could hardly take any time to let the information I was reading sink in as I went from exhibit to exhibit. 

Our guide for the day, Alex, was incredibly charismatic and knowledgeable about his subject area. It's amazing how far charisma alone goes for engagement. Our first stop, which I'm considering as the history of the museum, was incredibly engaging as he mentioned that the Deuches Museum doesn't really describe anything in its name, and how it may just be a holdover from the time when Germany had prospects of being a global empire. The information concerning the 100,000 bombs left sitting in the German ground was incredibly sobering and made me consider our own possibilities for war in my lifetime. Especially when he said they've found some around the museum. That Americans were sending bombs that were intended to explode after a couple days was very horrifying, and particularly sickening to me given that soldiers would be under a false aire of security. I get that they were Nazis, but war is horrifying nonetheless. 

Our guides information on the transistor was incredibly interesting to me as well. Given the prevalence and importance of semiconductors in our global economy, it strikes me as irresponsible that given me, three years in to college, I still do not fully understand what a semiconductor or transistor is, let alone how it works. This is saddening to me because of how important it is for U.S. current foreign relations, and how the fight with China over control of Taiwan hinges upon this. More than anything else, our guides tour taught me that my field is not a stand alone discipline. People often ask why they are required to take general education courses, and today I learned that I know virtually nothing about science and technology, despite how crucial it is to understand today's economy and political climate. How much of the real world am I missing by my lack of knowledge in fields other than my major? The same is true in the aspirin discussion, which flew completely over my head, but now I realize the necessity of understanding chemistry and science in order to create a fuller understanding for the world around me.

Lastly, the guides talk on concrete was incredibly fascinating to me, because he answered in such a simple way all of the questions that someone might ask about concrete? Why would someone use steel supports on a concrete structure? Concrete is brittle horizontally but strong vertically and steel is bendable vertically but strong horizontally. These two in tandem help to create a sounder structure that withstands force from all sides. What problems persist with the creation of cement? Sand needs to have sediment in it in order to have the grip it needs for cement, so it needs to be taken from beaches, not deserts. Additionally, cement construction requires a hefty amount of CO2 in order to produce, contributing a substantial amount to the global CO2 emissions total. Overall, I learned so much practical knowledge from our tour today.

I really enjoyed our tour and exploration of the Deuches Museum today! I hope I have more time to explore the coding exhibit, the agriculture room, and the photography section during our other free time for the aviation portion. 

5.29.23: Deutsches Museum

 I was happy to spend a fair deal of time in the bridges and dams portion of the museum. Growing up around the Upper Mississippi Valley, I hold a great appreciation for these incredible structures and the impressive science and engineering that make them safe, functional, and purposeful. I enjoyed when we went onto the large bridge in the exhibit as part of our tour and were able to bounce on it and in effect simulate what an earthquake would feel like as well. One theme I picked up on throughout my time in this exhibit is the progression and advancement in technologies and styles of bridges over time and as needed to fit the needs/purposes and challenges that spur innovation. One example is the Plait du Gard aqueduct near Nimes, France which utilizes an arch design with three different layers progressively narrowing up to reduce the weight load on the structure below.

Additionally the Rendsburg High Bridge utilized a truss design carrying trains high above a river and replaced two swing bridges, which allowed for more easy traffic flow both on the river and rail. An additional point of intrigue was a suspension ferry underneath the bridge that transports 350 vehicles and 1,700 pedestrians across the river each day. The ferry is still in open today and it has been designated as a historic landmark of civil engineering in Germany.

Finally, with the human ambition and drive to span larger gaps, canyons, or waterways, we have often turned to suspension or cable-stayed bridge designs like the Normandy Bridge spanning the mouth of the Seine. Sometimes I feel it is easy to drive across even the most basic bridges to the long, complex, and unique designs that catch our eye and take them for granted. There is a lot of science and decisions behind these structures that help us move people and goods with ease from one place to another. Designs and methods have evolved over time to meet our needs and rise above nature’s challenges. I’m happy the Deutsches Museum had this display as I found it very intriguing in bridging the gap between my own experiences with bridges along the Upper Mississippi and elsewhere and the incredible science, design, and engineering behind them.

-Michael

Deutsches Museum

During the tour we went to a very cool bridge that we were able to jump on to stimulate the feeling of being in a hurricane. I thought it was interesting to learn that the bridges that’s been built throughout time are slowly deteriorating and will soon be out of order if it’s not fixed. This will also cost a lot of money and can cause a huge debt or close down access to different areas in a state. Learning that all the bridges have been made so long ago makes sense that they are slowly decomposing but also with the advanced technology that we have now, I don’t understand why we can’t start slowly fixing them before they are completely out of order. Another exhibit that I enjoyed was the music wing. As I grew up I was always in band along with my sister and seeing the history of both of our instruments was really interesting and it made me a little sad that I don’t play as often anymore. Christina

Deutsches museum day 1: no airplane technology

 William Shaker
The tour, while somewhat stationary, was really nice, especially with the section on the oldest concrete structure, the doghouse. It seemed somewhat fitting that the oldest surviving reinforced concrete structure would be a doghouse, as it always seems that all (okay not all but every one I'd be willing to talk to) dog owner to some degree does spoil their dog. Even the most free roaming for farm dog that's half decently cared for does at least get a healthy
amount of pets and trailer rides. Someone going "oh man I can make my little dude have his own house and address" seems like both something very much of the time and like something distant, but also very close as it's something most people on this trip would go and do.

On a different note, I found one particular display out of all those I sprinted past particularly interesting. The diorama of the brewery was fantastic.

It included descriptions of all the steps involved, had neat architectural details, figurines showing how staff and customers would be working, as well as provided a visual aid of how they would have done it then. Sure, today you might have a well controlled process that results in consistent and "good" beer, but back then it was more of a "hey this works so let's keep doing it this way" kind of thing. Bottom fermentating beer yeasts, for example, required temperatures typically only obtainable in winter. So until refrigeration was invented by Carl von Linde, (with financial help of a brewing family?) It was not possible to use such yeasts except as a seasonal thing.

Another thing I found very interesting was, and I am fairly sure it did slightly dip into the aviation stuff we weren't supposed to go see but I couldn't stop myself, the model airplanes. Apparently there is a large section of the different innovations in RC technology and a bunch of different power setups showing progression from non-throttle nitro engines that spat oil and fuel everywhere, to the beginnings of brushed electric, all the way to a modern brushless electric pylon racer.

Deutsches Museum part 1

 Jesse M: 

On May 29th, we went to the Deutsches Museum.   One part of our guided tour that stood out to me was the medical section.  Our tour guide, Alex, discussed with us some interesting things about bones while standing on an interactive display that projected an image of a skeleton on the wall that mimicked his movements.   A couple interesting facts are that our femer can support more weight than a person actually carry because when jumping or skipping a step going down stairs, the bones temporarily experience a load greater than the weight applied because of the impact.  If they were not that strong, out bones could be broken by those kind of things.  I thought it was interesting  when he mentioned that astronauts don't experience these kinds of interactions with the floor because of zero gravity and since there bones technically do not need to be that strong anymore,  there is a noticeable increase in the amount of calcium in there urine which is how the loss of bone density occurs.  

Alex was also telling us about how a certain antibody molecule is made that is used to help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.  On display there was a model of asprin and a model of the antibody.   Since the antibody has around a thousand times more atoms, scientists are not able to artificially create it.  Instead, scientists would use the spleen of a mouse to produce B-cells.  These B-cells do not survive for long enough to be useful, so they are placed together in a container with a type of cancer cell because cancer cells can continue replicating indefinitely.   Some B-cells merge together, some cancer merge together, but the useful thing is when a B-cell and a cancer cell merge together.   This is because these hybrid cells have the cancer's ability of indefinite replication and the B-cell's ability of producing antibodies.   All the cells are contained in a solution that does not have all the necessary molecules for cell division, so after 3 to 4 weeks all of the leftover cancer cells and B-cells will have died leaving only the hybrid cells behind.   Those hybrid cells are then taken and used to produce a specific antibody that, when injected into someone showing symptoms of of Alzheimer's, will slow the progression of the disease.   

I was also excited to see the section about robots designed after animals.  I think it is a great idea to use what we can learn from nature about what adaptations workout when encountering design challenges.   Shown below is a picture of the BionicKangaroo.  Its legs and tail are used in the same way a real kangaroo does to jump and maintain balance.   It can jump about 15.7 inches high and about 31.5 inches horizontally.   

Deutches Museum

 The item that I would like to talk about is not on display, but a book in the library collections. Drei Muhler Familien und Ihre Mühlen, is a book about families who owned mills in Pomerania, which included my own family. I managed to secure a paper copy of the section about my family, and am extremely excited to have this resource at my disposal. It contains a detailed history of the mill (Greif-werke), biographical sketches, and a family tree. It answers several questions that I had asked in my independent study that Adam advised. It has shown me how certain people were related, and given me new leads into possible relations, and how everything about the mill has transpired. I am excited to continue my work with this source and expand my understanding of both my family and Germany. If anyone wants more info or clarity I would love to answer any comments or questions. 

The Deutsches Museum

 I spent most of my time today in the Chemistry exhibit and I had a world of fun in there. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to discover when I entered, but I was more than delighted with the hour I spent walking around and looking at everything. The exhibit started off with the history of Alchemy (chemistry) in Germany and the set up of the labs was so cool to see. Distillation was the biggest procedure that alchemists performed back then, but the extent of distillation didn’t end with alcohol. Scientists would distill pretty much anything they could just to understand the properties a chemical had and how it behaved. The study of combustion reactions was also collectively done on a large scale when alchemy was first being practiced for the same reasons as distilling. Scientists wanted to understand compounds and chemicals as much as possible, which meant seeing how it interacts in different reactions.

Alchemy Shop Set up

After this set up, the exhibit opened up into multiple pods that each touched on a different branch of chemistry. What I really enjoyed was that there was an in depth explanation that broke the complex concepts down into palatable tidbits that children, adults, and sciencey people could all understand. What I loved even more were the molecule diagrams they had practically everywhere. Since taking organic chemistry I’ve come to appreciate how these molecules look and what the different colors mean, so it was really cool to me that I could understand what was going on.

Molecular structure of Retinol

Lastly, my favorite part of this exhibit was the section that had analytical instrumentation in it. Once again, this section did a great job at explaining what these complex instruments do while also keeping it simple enough for anyone to understand. What made it my favorite part was the explanations of what these instruments are used for, as they directly correlated to the experiments I had just done in my Instrumental Analysis class in the spring. We detected the amount of lead and other trace metals in drinking water using AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy), and the last experiment we performed was on an FTIR (Fourier-transformer infrared spectroscopy). I also worked with GC-MS (gas chromatograph mass spectroscopy) instrumentation during my 2 year long undergraduate research project with Dr. Cornett in the chemistry department. We have an older Agilent GC-MS, but it was cool to see that the one they had in the display was also made by Agilent technologies. Overall, I loved getting to spend time in my element (hehehe get it? Cause, chemistry) and getting to see how chemistry developed in Germany.

GC-MS

FTIR

FAAS

-Grace Semaan

The Deutsches Museum

 

On Monday the 29th, our group traveled to the Deutsches Museum. This is one of the largest museums in Europe, so there were a lot of exhibits, but two of the exhibits that stuck out to me were the reinforced concrete portion of our guided tour, and the atomic physics section. 

During the guided tour, Alex the tour guide took us past one of the oldest structures made from reinforced concrete found in Germany, which happened to be a dog house pictured above. Even though I am not a civil engineer, a lot of my close friends are, so I frequently hear about their concrete escapades that they go on for class. I more or less found this structure interesting because people were able to figure out how to use the strengths of two materials to cover for the weaknesses of each other. I also completely didn't know how large the carbon footprint for concrete actually was. I always assumed that it was the environmentally friendly choice, but I failed to consider how much sand is needed for the process and how much carbon is released when making concrete. In the future, I hope we are able to find more environmentally friendly ways to use this technology.

After our guided tour we had time to ourselves. One of the exhibits I went to was the atomic physics section of the museum. This portion of the museum tied in nicely with a part of our guided tour where we talked heavily about particles and how, in an excited state, they can be used in the advancement in technology. Additionally, the video above shows one interactive part of the exhibit, describing how Rutherford conducted his gold-foil experiment to discover the atomic nucleus with a hands-on approach that can be easily understood. I really enjoyed how these exibits contained such powerful information but made it easy to understand for people that aren't in that particular field.

-Kaitlynn Fisher

Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

 Exploring the history of science and technology at the Teknisk Museum in Norway was an absolute blast. I got to see the same technology I’ve used myself as a machinist and ironworker, but powered by spindles that received their rotational energy from a large water wheel. This was particularly exciting to me, noting the similarities to American technologies in manufacturing and how I am sure that the machines in the museum would function just as well as they always have if reintegrated to production.

Another favorite exhibit of mine was the oil rigging history site. I learned a lot about the extraction processes and specialties of each piece of equipment involved. The drills used to bore holes in the ocean floor had to be long and flexible in order to cover large areas, yet maintain a torsional strength sufficient to carve the solids formed from such insanely high pressure undersea. 

A thought came to mind relating to the book we had just finished as a class, “Madhouse at the End of the Earth.” The most recent statistic I had heard was that we as a species have only explored approximately 5% of the earth beneath oceans. Since almost all land has been laid claim to by one governing authority or another, and space exploration is far more expensive and long-term, what results would we find should someone brave enough to venture through the bottom floor “underseascapes” of our planet? Would we find large enough deposits of oil to sustain current petroleum practices? Would the implications of that be world-ending, or would they allow for bigger dreams with our common fuel source?

The Norwegian tech museum

There were quite a few things that I enjoyed about the museum. The “rail gun” was interesting as it could serve multiple (and questionable) purposes. It also employed many circuit ideas that I have learned about such as inductors and capacitors. The ability to synthesize NOx and extract the nitrogen from it for fertilizer was absolutely revolutionary. Cars also unintentionally produce NOx from high temps in the combustion process (which is why the cat on your exhaust is so important). 

Note: NOx is horrible for the Ozone

LUCAS

The Norwegian Museum of science and technology

The Norwegian Museum of science and technology I liked how the third floor was very educational but also interactive to get the children interested in everything that was going on. It even taught children their times tables in a puzzle, fractions, and the Pythagorean theorem. I like how they value the youth’s education and well being at all times. Throughout the duration of being in Oslo, seeing the children probably around pre-k through third grade wear safety vests with information on it for if they get lost is very smart and caring for the youths well being and I think that this is something that we should start doing within the USA. I really enjoyed everything that they had on the third floor because it was very educational and hands on and as a hands on learner I really enjoyed what they had to offer.

Christina

technical museum day 2

 William Shaker

 

I found the part of the technical museum that didn't cover medical history quite interesting. The guided tour was great, but the most personally relevant items were some I found during our "free time", like the old belt driven machine tools. As someone who's used lathes powered from an overhead belt, and who still owns what was once a belt driven drill press, I find it really interesting that they incorporated that into the history of steam power and the like, as they were all tools that would have been used to create further power equipment. I also found the various aircraft quite interesting, especially with the airliner and the note about intentional stress concentrators. The windows were triangular, while almost every airliner after the De Havilland Comet issues had round or rounded rectangular windows to try and reduce the amount of stress (and reduce resulting strain) placed on the structure of the aircraft. Instead of doing that and having to inspect hundreds of points, they appear to have designed in spots that would intentionally fatigue faster (the corners of the rounded triangular windows) which would greatly reduce the need for inspecting every single structural member (or at least it would in theory, however most aviation regulations will still require essentially a full inspection annually and likely more for commercial aircraft.

Norsk Teknisk Museum Day 2

 The item that I would like to talk about is the hot air balloon basket that fled the siege of Paris in 1870-71. I was particularly interested in this item due to its ridiculous story and also a few personal interests. In the case of its story, it was the basket of a balloon that attempted to flee the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war, and eventually drifted all the way to Norway. To think that our first means of air travel was so dependent on wind as to be another sailboat essentialy is mind-boggling even more so that the balloons would have drifted so far off course. I also have a personal reason to be interested, as a relative of mine may have been present at the siege. The idea that he may have been there sat at his guard post among the amassed German armies watching some poor befuddled Frenchmen float away north at the mercy of the wind is very intriguing. That was my favorite object from out last day at the Teknisk Museum.

Norsk Teknisk Museum day 2

 Today we visited the Norsk Teknisk Museum.  This time in the history of science and technology sections.  There will very many interesting exhibits; I'll talk about a few here. 

This is an Electomagnetic Cannon.  The goal was to fire a projectile by using electricity and magnets instead of gunpowder. It is famous for its failure during 1903 when it short-circuited and produced an arc of flame whose direction was caused by the magnets.  This flame arc inspired the creation of the Electric Arc process.  That is the process used for removing nitrogen from the atmosphere for the purpose of selling it in fertilizers.

This is an example of the algorithm art that I enjoyed.  There are two engines controlled by a computer program.  The engines move a magnet which in turn moves the steel ball around on top of the table, through the sand to draw different patterns. 

This is a robot called Moddy.  It was made in 1982 by the Sirius company.  Moddy was designed to hold a serving tray or to go grab something for the user.  It was capable of not only just hearing and speaking, but also gesturing, and even displaying facial expressions.  Unfortunately the company went bankrupt.  

5.27.23: Norsk Teknisk Museum

I enjoyed my time at the Norsk Teknisk Museum; there was certainly a lot to see, learn, and do! I spent some time exploring the oil and gas exhibit they had. I did so already aware that oil and gas are important parts for Norway’s economy and how Norway is unique in having access to this resource in abundance compared to other European countries, but was interested in the science behind this important energy source and the history it has had in Norway. Oil was discovered in Norway’s waters around 1969 and has made an important impact on Norway. Oil and gas provides around 250,000 jobs and accounts for half the value of exports and a quarter of government revenue. There was an interesting animation demonstrating how oil and gas are actually formed from the decaying plants and plankton from some 500 million years ago, addition of clay/sediment, the addition of heat and pressure from the Earth, movement of tectonic plates, and the eventual extraction of the resource. I found it interesting how the first rigs were operated in Norway were by American companies and many supervisors were American with Norwegians holding subordinate jobs leading to a bit of conflict in what very much was a male-dominated workplace. Oil and gas are often viewed as dirty, polluting energy sources, but its presence in Norway provided an interesting contrast to my observations in how Norway appears much more environmentally conscious from the variety of examples and experiences we have all had ranging from the soda caps, wooden utensils, paper straws, and abundance of electric vehicles and public transit. The exhibit alluded to some of the environmental impacts of the oil industry like climate change and greater safety precautions that are in place today as well as the growth of renewables such as wind and solar, particularly in Germany which can replace a portion of imported energy supplies from Norway. Nonetheless, the exhibit on Norwegian oil and gas demonstrated the importance of this resource for Norway (especially economically) despite initial observations and experiences in our everyday interactions that are more environmentally conscious.

-Michael Beadle

Munch Museum

My free day was spent at the Munch Museum. We started at the fourth floor and progressively discovered lots of different periods of art. The “scream” was the highlight of most who visit the museum yet I personally enjoyed the showing of his life as we could touch different objects and make our own art. The museum unexpectedly took 3 hours, but it was incredible to visit the museum and see the art work.

-Ashten Wilson

Teknisk Museum Day 2

Grace Semaan

Today we got to explore the rest of the Teknisk museum and if we thought the medical history was cool, the rest of it was astonishing. After our tour guide brought us through the third floor which included the history of cars, motorcycles, planes, and other transportation in Norway, he brought us into the history of technology area. There were a lot of interesting physics gadgets and also some chemistry tools. I was really excited to hear the tour guide’s degree was in biochemistry as I got to talk to him more about that and some of the tools that were displayed in the museum. I specifically noticed an old set of weights that are typically used to calibrate a balance. This piqued my interest as I just finished my instrumental analysis chemistry course (aka analytical chemistry) where we used weight sets, that looked equally as ancient, to calibrate our balances in the lab.  

After the guided tour was done I explored the rest of the museum taking special interest in the wood making and workshop areas, the interactive light exhibit, and the sound exhibit. It was so interesting to see the manual lathes and mills they had, and how they resemble the ones we have in the new HFIC on campus. Now, the ones on campus are considerably nicer and more modern, but some of the handles and movement of the equipment were exactly the same and I thought that was cool. The workshop room was also intriguing to me because my grandpa built a workshop next to his house since he did a lot of woodworking and I felt like I was back there as I peered inside. I recognized a lot of equipment and the layout was also extremely familiar. I took lots of photos for my family as I know they’ll be excited to see something so familiar looking in a Norwegian museum. 

The light exhibit was probably my favorite part of today because it was so interactive and also had plenty of really cool photo opportunities. One of the main things we learn about in physical chemistry is light wavelengths and what information we can learn from the various wavelengths of light. It was so interesting to see how they summed that information up into palatable and fun blurbs of information that anyone could understand, or demonstrate it through the exhibits and the usage of various lights. The concept of mirrors, reflection, and refraction was also added into this section. The funky mirrors were extra whacky, which made pics with the girlies a laughable experience. I think the museum did a great job with this section in not only expressing really complex ideas, but also making it fun for kids and adults to experience hands on. 

Lastly, I explored the sound area that had studios to try instruments out in, and the development of music technology in Norway. I really enjoyed how the museum had buttons you could press to hear how all the different instruments sounded. My grandma was an organist, which means my mom is very musically inclined, so it was so cool to see the development of these instruments. I, once again, took a lot of photos to show my mom once I get back home as I recognized quite a few instruments and technologies used to create music. Shortly after this, I was informed that the museum had a Daguerreotype, which was the topic of my paper. I headed up to the 4th floor to see one in person and it was quite impressive. I’m so happy I got to see the real thing after doing so much research on the development of it. Overall, this museum is one of my all time favorites of museums I’ve ever been to because of the great way they present their artifacts and knowledge on said artifacts. Check out below for photos I captured of the fun stuff!

Weigh set for calibration 

Workshop room

Mills and lathes

Funhouse mirror

Light exhibit

Light exhibit

Daguerreotype

Who I would cast in the movie/tv show adaptation of "The Madhouse At The End Of The Earth"

 First off, I would simply name the show/movie "The Belgica" and I would focus mostly on what happened once they reached Antarctica. Also, as Hollywood always does, I will be casting a lot higher than the actual ages of the people in real life. My casting goes as follows:

Robert Pattinson: Gerlache

I am talking about Robert Pattinson specifically from The Lighthouse. I just think this is the vibe. He seems like he would portray an awful leader in the best way.

Keanu Reeves: Cook

If you look at how Cook looks in the book when he refuses to cut his hair, you can't tell me that there's no resemblance. 

Woody Harrelson: Tollefsen

If you look in the book, I just feel like he has the right eyes to play him, plus I think he could play crazy really well. 

Matthew McConaughey: Amundsen

I think he would play cocky really well, but he would specifically need a beard like this to pull it off.

Cat From Pet Semetary: Nansen

Specifically, the look that this cat has in this picture. She must be mangy looking.

I'm not sure yet about the other actors, but for sure this is the main cast.