Week 1: Art and Science

I found the readings interesting and enjoyed reading about each authors opinion ion the topic. In his article “The Two Cultures”, C.P. Snow writes “Literary intellectuals at one pole— at the other scientists (Snow 4).” to express how completely opposite the two subjects are usually seen. I found his opinion on the matter intriguing, that the more the gap between the two subjects can be bridged will lead to larger advances in society. Not only is it important to close the gap between art and science to help advance society, it is also important to begin to bridge the gap between the general public and science so that they may have a better understanding of one another. For instance, this video of former Illinois Congressman John Porter, in which he explains why he believes that the science community and the general public should have a better relationship. He uses the polio epidemic as an example of how if science had done a better job advocating for the vaccination that public would have been more keen on receiving it. He then talks about his main point that if the general public had a better understanding of science and vice versa then political topics such as policy making would be much easier.

Video:
http://www.nyas.org/Media.aspx?cid=7ccaf6aa-5aa2-455c-a2e3-3d7e9b97a636

In the reading "Towards a Third Culture: Being in between" that we read this week I found the part about creating a bridge between art, science, and technology to be the most thought provoking. The line “Scientist-artists originally conceived and designed bridges (Vesna 121).” made me think of a literal bridging of a gap instead of the figurative example that I had talked about in the previous paragraph. This then made me start to think about Leonardo Da Vinci and how he is the perfect "middleman" that John Brockman says is needed to successfully bridge the gap between art and science (Vesna 122).

The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci to me is the best example of bridging art and science. It shows that during the renaissance this type of extremely realistic art work was popular. Da Vinci was also an inventor/scientist as well as a artist.

A more modern example of linking art and science is the installation "Cloud in a room". By understanding the science behind clouds and then manipulating the atmosphere within the room Berndnaut Smilde has discovered how to create a cloud in the middle of a room.

Works Cited

Berndnaut Smilde "Cloud in a room", http://indulgd.com/cloud-in-room-by-berndnaut-smilde/

Leonardo Da Vinci, http://www.leonardo-da-vinci-biography.com/leonardo-da-vinci-inventions.html

Leonardo Da Vinci "Vitruvian Man", http://aaleenshafaat.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-favorite-sketch-is-vitruvian-man-by.html

Snow, C. P. The two cultures and the scientific revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-125. Web.

Williams, Christopher. "A Dangerous Divide | The New York Academy of Sciences." The New York Academy of Sciences. 24 July 2009. Web. 3 Oct.