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"It is because science grows out of the preoccupations and pressures of everyday life
that its discoveries have, in the end, to be accessible to all of us."
Lisa Jardine, 1999. Ingenious Pursuits:
Building the Scientific Revolution p.8
Beauty in art, nature, science
Dr John Kalmanis a scientist at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) whose research interests are organic chemistry, chemistry of the environment and chemical education.
By chance we meet at a fire alarm drill outside UTS. As we stand and wait for the 'all clear' I ask him what he does.
He says he's using a new instrument for researchwith UTS Distinguished Professor Graham Pyke, to find genetic evidence in pollen, of co-evolution of flowering plants and birds. I'm struck by how John describes the instrument with animated passion that I more often witness in musicians.
Since ancient times intuition and reason have been used to discover and to express how the natural world works. Today we do science and make art to generate and pass on knowledge that is vital for survival. This conversation is presented in a format that highlights both pre-verbal and written Languages. Here it is clear that gesture is an essential component in accurate communication and that gestures that reflect the spoken words can make a story more coherent and therefore more believable.