Research team receive threats after releasing 9/11 simulation

Mikel Livingston
The Exponent
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The research team behind a scientifically rendered 3-D animation of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center is beginning to experience the effects of its 2 1/2 year project – not all of which is positive.

The animation, which depicts the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower, was placed on Purdue's Department of Computer Science Web site in early April and has since garnered nationwide media attention from CNN.com and NBC news.

"It is not easy to see the tragedy in such vivid detail," said Christoph Hoffmann, a computer science professor and a lead researcher for the project. "But (the animation) has generated a lot of debate, which is positive."

But, as the team has since found, there is a darker side to success.

The animation drew the attention of conspiracy theorists across the Internet who have taken it upon themselves to target not only the animation but the team behind it. By seeking to prove links between the researchers and the United States government, the theorists hope to find a slant of bias in what was promoted as independent research.

Mete Sozen, professor of structural engineering, said this was not the reaction he was expecting.

"Most of the feedback was negative and threatening," Sozen said.

Sozen said this may be due to a misconception on the part of the viewer.

"They think the animation explains the collapse," Sozen said. "Actually it explains how the structure withstood the impact. The fire brought the building down. But that happened after our coverage."

Despite some hostile feedback, the animation's popularity continues to grow.

The video proved so popular that the team had to upload the video onto YouTube to prevent it from hindering the speed of the department's Web site. On YouTube, the video received more than 2,000 views in only the first hour of its June 1 posting.

"We put the video on YouTube because the great number of downloads that slowed down the computer science Internet servers," Hoffmann said. "The YouTube servers have the adequate capacity."

With more than one million views, the video shows that people are still hungry for answers and, for that reason, the team's research will continue.

"The next step is to understand what happens when dense fluids impact solids," Sozen said. "It will help us to understand the response of structures to such elements."

Until then, Hoffmann is unfazed by the media attention.

"I am just happy to help people understand our work," Hoffmann said.