Week 2
Math and Art
Videos to watch for Homework:
When Science Meets Art: Fabian Oefner at TEDxWarwick 2013. 10 minutes 23 seconds.
Fabian Oefner is a talented photographer based in Switzerland whose work marries visual aesthetics and science. Most of his work has to do with bringing science and art together.
How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries. 7 minutes and 31 seconds.
Adam Savage walks through two spectacular examples of profound scientific discoveries that came from simple, creative methods anyone could have followed.
HW: Contribute to blog. Watch the two videos and write a brief reflective statement (5-6 sentences) on what you found most striking or interesting in each of the movies.
DUE: Post blog by Monday 2/8, 9:00 am.
February 4, 2016 at 11:44 pm
I found the first video about that shows the artistry sounds waves and ferromagnetic liquids to be less scientific and more about visualization of a natural phenomenon. The artwork produced by those phenomenons, however, did not further my knowledge in any significant way. The talk by Adam Savage was much more inspiring because he was discussing how scientists had made discoveries and how they got their ideas. Many of the ideas were result of wanting to know about something that caught a person’s eye and testing them to find out more about it. I think the beauty of science is that it you learn from trying new things and thinking about the same things and as many ways as possible in order to figure them out.
February 5, 2016 at 1:08 am
I found the first video fairly interesting, because it made me wonder about the different forces that we already know about in our universe, and how they interact with each other. The magnetic fluid mixed with the water color was probably the best part because the concept of hydrophobic liquids is very cool to me. However something about the second video blew my mind. I’m the first person to admit that I am a giant science nerd, so listening to the stories about scientific discoveries makes me really excited to learn more and more about things I never even thought I was interested in.
February 6, 2016 at 10:06 pm
In the first video, I feel like Oefner was more focused on the art aspect rather than the science. For example, for the sound waves project he only captured the effects the waves had on the crystals in that singular moment rather than for a period of time and that the waves cause the crystals to bounce. I feel his presentation would’ve been more effective if he showed a video of the crystals moving with varying sound waves. I found the second video to be more interesting because Savage talked of how simple interest in something scientific lead to great discoveries. Simply asking a question about something and wanting to learn about it is the spark that starts the learning process. It is that interest that enables us to continually learn new things about science.
February 7, 2016 at 10:11 pm
The first video was very interesting. Fabian Oefner began by saying that how art is emotional and that science is rational. When he showed the examples, I was wondering how he would differentiate between those two using his art work. But later when he explained physical properties and the way it transformed into a beautiful art was very fascinating. I enjoyed the first video.
The second video had more facts and thoughts. It was really inspiring. I find the story behind every scientific invention interesting. That is the best part where we can find more and more solutions. The second video was more interesting.
February 8, 2016 at 3:34 am
Fabian Oefner uses images and art to represent physics, or other aspects of math or science. I really like how he used sand to “visualize” sound waves though the air by explaining how speakers work to play music we all listen to. Also, the ferrofluid magnetic material was very visually stimulating as I could see the different magentic fields in a tangible medium(sight).
I loved Adam’s talk on ideas and how the subjective simple ideas from religion helped develop complex scientific ideas. His many historical allusions were both captivating and further developed his idea. “We are all bags of meat” studying different “fields” of the wondrous world of science. Not only was his talk entertaining, his ideas were very inspiring and I fell in a way these ideas of simple thoughts transitioning into science is what inspired him on MythBusters.
February 8, 2016 at 4:26 am
I enjoyed the art from the first video. I like how he was trying to capture art from things such as sound waves or iridescence. He was capturing these two things visually in a way that makes it more appealing and catches your attention. He was showing the audience a new perspective. The second video was also very interesting because Adam Savage presents a connection that we can have with famous scientists. He shows how small questions and experiments with simple materials can lead to big discoveries in the scientific community. It’s a way to show how science is impacted with our everyday lives and how we may be able to impact science.
February 8, 2016 at 4:38 am
I feel as though these two videos complimented each other in a very unique way. In his TEDx talk, Fabian Hefner focused more of the beauty of scientific phenomena that have been tested and proven. His use of the scientific properties in his work was very simplistic, however, I feel as though he did that on purpose in order to easily spark a connection with the audience along with inspire others to do as he did but on a more complex level. Adam Savage compliments Hefner’s TEDx talk by discussing the beauty that is the discovery and expansion of science. He mentions in his talk that people put all of science in a box and thats it, however it is an ever expanding subject with different fields of focus throughout. Art is much the same way, as people can generalize it and put it in a simple box, when in reality art exists in many different mediums from painting to sculpting, and different periods such as expressionism and classicism. So in a way, both of these subjects can be generalized into their small separate categories, however, once it is realized that they are both ever expanding and changing beings, it is easy to see that they are not their own separate entities, but they can be found within each other.
February 8, 2016 at 5:19 am
I found both of these videos to be very interesting. What I liked most about the first video was Fabian Oefner demonstrating his piece of art that looked almost like pop art. He explained that it worked because he put a fluid on a magnet and due to the magnetic repulsion of the iron particles the fluid formed into a spiky shape. He then added water colors to the spiky liquid and the colors filled in the shapes to make a very colorful picture. I really enjoyed the second video because it really made me think about how we as a society have advanced. Adam Savage explained how about 2,200 years ago Eratosthenes figured out the diameter of the earth by understanding how the earth is spherical. He then found the difference between two towns and used this distance to extrapolate the circumference of the earth. Using this information, he was able to solve this question of “how big is the earth.” I really had to sit and think after this because it is amazing to think that scientists were able to discover so much about the earth using simple equations and observations before a time of advanced technology.
February 8, 2016 at 1:54 pm
In the first video Fabian Hefner mentions how art and science respectively display emotion and rationality and that his work is a collaboration of the two. The collaboration of emotion and rationality is what this ACH 102 class is trying to show students, which is possibility why this video was chosen. The most memorable aspect of the video for me was the ferromagnetic liquid, not only because I found the structure of the art work most intriguing, but because I am more of a chemistry person than a physics person. I can understand the science behind hydrophobic molecules more than I understand the concepts behind the creation of sound waves. What I believe the video was lacking was a strong scientific view, as it was mainly art focused. I would have liked a more through explanation of the sound waves because it is not necessarily something I understand especially well.
On the other hand, Savage’s talk was more science driven than art driven. I was much more intrigued by this second video because I have a strong interest in history as well. I think Savage brought up an excellent point, in which a simple question can lead to extraordinary answers and ground breaking discoveries. This concept is really the core of science and why Stony Brook and other institutes around the globe invest so much time and effort into research and experiments. In addition, it’s quite remarkable how these people that lived so many years before were able to make such paramount discoveries without the use of modern technology. The level of accuracy to which these discoveries were made is also astounding and makes me wonder how far another 2,000 years of science and technology will bring us.
February 8, 2016 at 2:54 pm
What I found most interesting in the first video was the picture of the fluid. It is amazing how something which seems so simple, can still have so much complexity to it. The fact that the tiny particles changes shape when it goes into a magnetic field really show the beauty of how science can contribute towards art. The sun was 7.2 degrees of axis. The most interesting feature in the second video is how our societies have changed. Today, we are discovering such amazing particles and inventions using the technology that we have available. However, we have, in a sense, stopped using our minds to the fullest, as in the past we have used our minds and relied on it’s beauty much more.
February 8, 2016 at 2:56 pm
I thought both videos were quite interesting in the ways. However, the second with Adam Savage provided a more enlightening approach to a few common phenomena in science such as the speed of light and the roundness of the Earth. As mentioned by many others, the first video with Oefner featured a more aesthetic approach to science. Although science systematically embodies both the natural and physical world, I feel as though Oefner proposed his material in an artistic way without approaching the explanation behind it as much. To me, this seems a bit odd considering his end goal was to connect art and science, when it seems as though he only focused how art can be superficially present in the natural world. Nonetheless, Savage’s representation of science seemed more delightful in that he injected some comedy into what would be quite dense material.
February 8, 2016 at 3:46 pm
Fabian Oefner starts off his presentation with an very interesting statement “What I find very interesting about them is that they both look at the world around us and yet they do it in a very different way. Art on the one side has more an emotional approach, whereas science has a more rational approach to the world.” Oefner’s interest in art and science led him to use both in his artwork to appeal to his audience’s heart and brain. For example Oefner explains the electro-magnetic physics behind sound waves and turns this into art by making them visible. Oefner used multi-colored crystals as a medium for sound waves to travel through and he was able to produce an amzing visualization of sound waves.
On the other hand Adam Savage’s presentation wasn’t focused on art but more at science and how curiousity led to great discoveries. Savage discusses Feynman’s curiosity of inertia as a little boy and how Feynman credited it that for leading him to winning a noble prize for his diagrams describing the movement of subatomic particles. Savage also discussed how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth 2200 years ago when he was intrigued by a letter saying that the sun could be seen in a well.
February 8, 2016 at 7:44 pm
Both videos were interesting, however I was more engaged in Adam Savage’s presentation on science. The stories of how certain values such as the circumference of the Earth or how the speed of light peaked my interest. I never knew how those values were actually calculated and I have simply lived my life doing calculations with those values without actually understanding the backstory.
Fabian Oefner’s presentation was intriguing , but I wasn’t really impressed. The pieces of art he showed were very simple, so to say. The video of the crystals on the speaker was, well, a video of crystals bouncing on a speaker. The ferrofluid on the magnet was eye-catching, and he showed how the hydrophobic properties of the ferrofluid could make a nice design, but, in the end it was simply water colors mixed in with ferrofluid.
February 9, 2016 at 4:21 am
In my opinion, i prefer the first video, frankly speaking, i am not understand the content about the video, but i guess the first video tell us the relationship between sounds and arts, and the second video tell us the relationship between light and arts. The reason that i chose the first video is we can see the color and shape. but professor tell us lots of special words in the second video, it makes me wanna sleep.
February 9, 2016 at 6:21 am
Both of videos were interesting. The first video was more concentrated on the art than science while the second video talked more about scientific things made a lot of discoveries and innovation. Simple interest in science let us focus on something deeply and brought out new discoveries. Fabian Oefner who spoke in the video emphasized how science is rational and art is emotional with several instances. The second video provided example with the speed of light and Earth’s round shape. These two videos revealed that the relationship between science and the society, and how science impact certain fields.
September 9, 2024 at 4:24 pm
Saving Private Ryan is a film set on the background of the most traumatic Invasion of Normandy in the World War Two.推特账号