HYBRIDS

Scientists as Artists and Artists as Scientists

Bob Root-Bernstein is a scientist, historian, artist and writer whose work focuses on creative processes across all of these domains of human endeavor. He earned his bachelors degree in biochemistry, with a minor in science in human affairs, as well as his doctorate in the history of science, from Princeton University, where he was Thomas Kuhn’s research assistant. He then did post-doctoral research in theories of biology with Jonas Salk at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where he received one of the first MacArthur Fellowships (1981). That award gave him the freedom to further his transdisciplinary studies. Following two years doing research in Art Yuwiler’s neurobiochemistry lab at the Wadsworth V. A. Hospital in Brentwood, CA and a year teaching a course on the creative process for the honors college at UCLA, he moved to Michigan State University, where he spent the rest of his career. He now spends his time writing books and making art.

New Book: The Arts of Eminent Scientists

https://www.amazon.com/Arts-Eminent-Scientists-Essential-Connections/dp/9819820057

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-arts-of-eminent-scientists-robert-root-bernstein/1148033035

Scientists as artists?! The idea may sound strange, even unlikely, yet The Arts of Eminent Scientists demonstrates that many of the world’s most respected scientists have been extraordinarily talented amateur, even professional, artists.

Fifty-six scientists, forty of them Nobel Prize winners or nominees, produced the rarely- or never-before-seen paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, textile art, jewelry and bespoke puzzles that illustrate this book. A brief text describes the motivations that induced each scientist to devote time and energy to making art and draws out the connections between their arts and their professional and private lives.

Surprisingly, the arts have been much more than just a relaxing pastime for most of these scientists. Many connect their arts directly to their scientific creativity. Others report their arts make them better observers, visual and kinesthetic imagers, pattern recognizers and pattern formers, or more skilled experimental manipulators and better communicators. Still others find in the arts useful analogies or phenomena worthy of scientific investigation. Most consider themselves multi-minded, some amalgam of scientist-artist.

Here, then, is a glimpse into a world of beauty and extraordinary expressiveness that has too long been hidden away in private collections or between laboratory walls. Contained within it are practical lessons about the nurture of scientific creativity and tested strategies for integrating arts into STEM education. The lived experience of some of the most successful scientists of all time also offers insights as well into C. P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” divide, the commonalities of artistic and scientific aesthetics, and so much more.

Banting, Frederick (1891-1941), Canada, Nobel Prize, Physiology or Medicine, 1923.

Bateson, William (1861-1926), Britain. Genetics. Fellow of the Royal Society.

Best, Charles (1899-1978), Canada, Banting Shared his Nobel Prize with him.

Bhabha, Homi J. (1909-1966), India, Physics. Fellow of the Royal Society. Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Physics.

    Bragg, Sir William H. (1862-1942), Britain, Nobe Prize, Physics, 1915.

Bragg, Sir William L. (1890-1971), Britain. Shared Nobel Prize, Physics, 1915.

Burnet, Sir Frank Macfarlane (1899-1985), Australia, Nobel Prize, Physiology or Medicine, 1960.

Cajal, Santiago Ramon y (1852-1934), Spain, Nobel Prize, Physiology or Medicine, 1906.

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Chatton, Édouard (1883-1947), France, Microbiology. Académie des Sciences.

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Duhem, Pierre (1861-1916), France, Physical Chemistry. Académie des Sciences. Nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Elion, Gertrude (1918-1999), United States.  Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1988.

Feynman, Richard (1918-1988), United States, Nobel Prize, Physics, 1965.

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Pasteur, Louis (1822-1895), France, Microbiology.  Académie des Sciences.

Penrose, Lionel S. (1898-1972), Britain, Genetics. Fellow of the Royal Society.

Penrose, Roger (1931-), Britain, Nobel Prize, Physics, 2020.

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Waddington, Conrad H. (1905-1975), Britain, Embryology. Fellow of the Royal Society.

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Wilson, Robert Rathbun (1914-2000), United States, Physics. US National Academy of Sciences.

Wood, Robert W. (1868-1955), United States, Physics. US National Academy of Sciences. Nominated 39 Times for the Nobel Prize.

Yukawa, Hideki (1907-1981), Japan, Nobel Prize, Physics, 1949.