Sunday, July 24, 2016

Week 5: Space+Art

       From ancient time, people could only "explore" the space with their imaginations. Many people had created beautiful and artistic fantasy of the universe, about its shape, its color and spiritual meanings. The stories about heaven and divinity were often associated with the sky. Although not scientifically correct, these myths were truly some treasure of minds from the past. 
In ancient North America, earth was belief to be on the back of the Great Turtle


       Even in later era, when science was more developed and scientists were more equipped for space exploration, the imagination still played an important role. As Prof. Vesna said in lecture, that "the science fiction writers have offered 'visions' for scientists to follow." Indeed, just like how a building is constructed out of the envision of the architects and the calculations of the engineers, space projects rely deeply on the "crazy" thoughts to be realized. 

The space elevator envision


       It was surprising to me that the nanoscience is so frequently brought up in the discussion of space explorations. In the video "Powers of Ten," we were able to visualize the difference from the scale of space - 10 to the 24 meters, to the scale of nano space - 10 to the negative 16 meters. However, these two extremes, yet both extremely high-tech fields, cooperate well in the course of unfolding the mysterious space. The unique nano structures of substances enables the matching of extraterrestrial substance to meteoric trace on the earth, and provides possible material for the construction of space projects, etc. 


       To me, the most intriguing envision about the space are the aliens. Since I was a child, I loved to see movies about aliens. Sometimes the aliens are highly intelligent and sometimes not so clever, sometimes they are malicious and sometimes friendly... I do hope these fiction will someday come true like those covered in the lecture. In the meantime, I will keep on enjoying the unbounded imaginations of the artists.






Bibliography

Sources

Ebishirl. "Ancient Cosmology: Theories on the Origin of the Universe." Web.
<http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/11499.aspx#imgn_0>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space + Art | Lectures." Web.
<https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/510391/pages/unit-9-view?module_item_id=9092425>.

Office of Charles and Ray Eames. "Powers of Ten." IBM. Web. <https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/510391/pages/unit-9-view?module_item_id=9092425>.

Gimzewski, Jim. "Nanotech + Art | Lectures" Web.
<https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/510391/pages/unit-8-view?module_item_id=9092419>.

The Telegraph. "Top 20 aliens in the movies." Web.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/07/18/top-aliens-in-the-movies>.


Images

Ebishirl. "Ancient Cosmology: Theories on the Origin of the Universe." Web.
<http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/11499.aspx#imgn_0>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space + Art | Lectures." Web.
<https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/510391/pages/unit-9-view?module_item_id=9092425>.

UKParamountPictures. "Star Trek Beyond | Final Trailer | Paramount Pictures UK." YouTube. YouTube, 2016. Web. 25 July 2016.


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