Symmetry Magazine: dimensions of particle physics
I have been a big fan of Symmetry Magazine for a number of years so thought i should put something on the website to share the good news as it were. It is a great magazine and an increadible online resource. Via the website and newsletters are up to date scientific articles on a number subjects including applied-science, astrophysics, cosmic-frontier, dark energy, dark matter, energy frontier, extra dimensions, highs-boson, intensity frontier, neutrinos and underground science.
I signed up and sumaries and links to great and interesting articles get emailed to me regularly. If your a teacher or parent who wants to explain the basics of complex ideas in simple language then the explain it in 60 seconds section is invaluable. Interesting for you Superpositioners there is also interesting articles about art/ science collaborations or art inspired by artworks in the gallery section.
I have provided the introductory paragraph of Imagine the beam Article from February 2014. (this is also where the image comes from) I hope that it gives you a sense of the quality of writing and encourages you read the rest of the article and others like in on the Symmetry Magazine website.
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Imagine the beam
A former physicist uses accelerator data to create artistic visualizations.
Andres Wanner, Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Simon Fraser University
Sixteen years after graduating as a nuclear physicist, following a long period of working as a digital designer and educator, Andres Wanner again immersed himself in a physics environment at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. Midway through a second Masters degree in Visual Arts, he was curious to revisit his scientific past from a different, artistic perspective.
With the support of his supervisor, Ingrid Koenig, an artist who often engages in conversation with scientists, Wanner had the opportunity to spend 12 weeks as a resident artist exploring the “heart” of TRIUMF: the world’s largest cyclotron, a giant machine accelerating a beam of protons used for experiments and medical treatments. He decided use available data to create a visual representation of the cyclotron’s particle beam, and wrote about his process for symmetry.
My art deals with technological precision, uncertainties and errors—areas all relevant to TRIUMF’s cyclotron. Once again stationed at the laboratory, excited about the prospect of working with such a big machine, I began a digital data visualization project aimed at translating the particle beam’s properties—with a focus on its inaccuracies and fluctuations—into aesthetic imagery.
Related symmetry content
Signal to background: Artists challenged to depict physics
Essay: South Dakota artists explore dark matter
Feature: CERN artist-in-residence develops ear for physics
Gallery: From accelerator to art
