0 comment Sunday, May 11, 2014 | admin
Yesterday I went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to listen to a lecture by Dr Omar Almaini from the University Of Nottingham.
The talk covered the nature of supermassive black holes, why we think that they exist and how to discover them which was fascinating.
However, as an artist, I was moved by the visual data that Dr Omar Almaini provided along with his talk.
This video shows a cluster of stars hidden behind the black dust of the milky way. The camera used to capture this information was specifically designed for this purpose, as scientists were fascinated to discover if there was a black hole lurking in our galaxy.
For scientists to determine if a black hole did exist in our galaxy, the scientists would need to track the movement of stars. If the stars were found to be moving around, then this would become evidence of a black hole in our galaxy.
Dr Omar Almaini described this clip as "pure unadulterated data straight from the telescope". This video shows that stars are in fact orbiting a central point of gravity within the space of a few decades, so most scientists now believe that a dormant black hole does exist in the Milky Way.
Using this definition of "dormant", there are no collisions of planets / there is no fuel for the black hole to emit any kind of radiation. It is also rather unlikely that we will get sucked in to the black hole any time soon!
Using this data, scientists have been able to make models of the stars orbiting the black hole as a visual aid. (Towards the end of this clip).
I am always impressed by any super-intelligent professor who can simplify complex ideas for consumption of the general public, so I found the talk by Dr Omar Almaini very educational.
I will leave you with an excerpt from "Physics Of The Impossible" by Michio Kaku, on the scientist Albert Einstein.
"What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g. moving trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics.
Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a small child, the theory was probably useless;
that is, the essence of a theory has to be captured by the physical picture; the mathematics would come later".
The talk covered the nature of supermassive black holes, why we think that they exist and how to discover them which was fascinating.
However, as an artist, I was moved by the visual data that Dr Omar Almaini provided along with his talk.
This video shows a cluster of stars hidden behind the black dust of the milky way. The camera used to capture this information was specifically designed for this purpose, as scientists were fascinated to discover if there was a black hole lurking in our galaxy.
For scientists to determine if a black hole did exist in our galaxy, the scientists would need to track the movement of stars. If the stars were found to be moving around, then this would become evidence of a black hole in our galaxy.
Dr Omar Almaini described this clip as "pure unadulterated data straight from the telescope". This video shows that stars are in fact orbiting a central point of gravity within the space of a few decades, so most scientists now believe that a dormant black hole does exist in the Milky Way.
Using this definition of "dormant", there are no collisions of planets / there is no fuel for the black hole to emit any kind of radiation. It is also rather unlikely that we will get sucked in to the black hole any time soon!
Using this data, scientists have been able to make models of the stars orbiting the black hole as a visual aid. (Towards the end of this clip).
I am always impressed by any super-intelligent professor who can simplify complex ideas for consumption of the general public, so I found the talk by Dr Omar Almaini very educational.
I will leave you with an excerpt from "Physics Of The Impossible" by Michio Kaku, on the scientist Albert Einstein.
"What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g. moving trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics.
Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a small child, the theory was probably useless;
that is, the essence of a theory has to be captured by the physical picture; the mathematics would come later".
Labels: Albert Einstein, Dr Omar Almaini, Michio Kaku, National Maritime Museum, Physics Of The Impossible, Stellar Motions In The Galactic Centre, Supermassive Black Hole, The Milky Way, Video, Visualization, Youtube
0 comment Monday, April 28, 2014 | admin
Today, I had an hour to kill in Manchester's Northern Quarter, and thought I'd have a look in Magma Books.
I was immediately drawn to How To Be An Explorer Of The World by Keri Smith, a book which promotes the Joseph Beuys "Everyone Is An Artist" way of thinking.
I can't resist Keri Smith's interactive art books or keeping note of every little detail, so I went ahead and purchased the book.
Inside, this book encourages collections of objects, recording of experiences, and looking more closely at things we see every day. For example, to inspire drawing, we can make maps of cracks on the floor and copy water stains.
One of my projects in 2007 was to photograph every chewing gum splat I could find, so this inspired the urban explorer inside me.
On page 6, after this list, Keri Smith writes "Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in similar ways." and I have to agree.
Albert Einstein said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is."
Artists and scientists are both keen observers, and this book facilitates this need to document the world around us in detail. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to record their world and experiences in an unconventional way. I am definitely going to complete my copy, as I think it will help me to stay focused on my artistic and scientific tendencies, while I am not enrolled in to an academic institution over the Summer!
I was immediately drawn to How To Be An Explorer Of The World by Keri Smith, a book which promotes the Joseph Beuys "Everyone Is An Artist" way of thinking.
I can't resist Keri Smith's interactive art books or keeping note of every little detail, so I went ahead and purchased the book.
Inside, this book encourages collections of objects, recording of experiences, and looking more closely at things we see every day. For example, to inspire drawing, we can make maps of cracks on the floor and copy water stains.
One of my projects in 2007 was to photograph every chewing gum splat I could find, so this inspired the urban explorer inside me.
On page 6, after this list, Keri Smith writes "Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in similar ways." and I have to agree.
Albert Einstein said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is."
Artists and scientists are both keen observers, and this book facilitates this need to document the world around us in detail. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to record their world and experiences in an unconventional way. I am definitely going to complete my copy, as I think it will help me to stay focused on my artistic and scientific tendencies, while I am not enrolled in to an academic institution over the Summer!
Labels: Albert Einstein, Art, Book, How To Be An Explorer Of The World, Joseph Beuys, Keri Smith, Magma, Psychogeography, Review, Science
1 comment Sunday, April 27, 2014 | admin
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
Labels: Albert Einstein, Art, Awe, Mysterious, Quotes, Science, Wonder