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This article is from the official account of Wechat: back to Park (ID:fanpu2019), author: Milena Ivanova (Department of History and philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge), compiled by Bing Ma

Today's scientific experimental equipment is complex, and numerous researchers carry out statistical analysis of a large number of data, which makes scientific research contain collective wisdom. In terms of public understanding of science, the early traditional scientific experiments are more concise and easy to demonstrate. But no matter in the past or at present, scientific experiments have aesthetic value, not only in the visual feeling, but also in the understanding of the world.

People always habitually think that the beauty and elegance of scientific theory are important, but ignore the ingenuity of device design in experimental research, and the beauty in experimental design is also worthy of our attention.

In order to understand and change the world around them, people create science, including theories, models and experiments, which often receive words of praise, such as pleasure or beauty.

From Einstein's theory of relativity and Darwin's theory of evolution to scientific experiments such as the discovery of electrons, DNA replication and white light dispersion, scientific discoveries are praised not only for revealing the truth of the world, but also for the process of scientific discovery because they are so beautiful, concise and exquisite.

Just as people praise artists for their imagination and ability to create new things, people praise scientists and scientists for their creative talents while praising the aesthetic value of science. There is also an attractive art space in experimental science, but it is often ignored by people. Below we will see that scientific experiments can be appreciated as art, and they can become a public landscape together with works of art, evoking our aesthetic experience.

Aesthetics in famous scientific experiments traces back to the origin of experimental science. When natural philosophers demonstrated scientific experiments in public in the 17th century, experimental science has been labeled as art. Experimental science, as a behavior of revealing or interfering with nature, can be traced back to the "New tool" (Novum Organum) published in 1620. In his book, author Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon) emphasizes the important contribution of experiments in forming hypotheses about the world and verifying the correctness of hypotheses.

Experiments have become the core of empirical methods in scientific research. with the help of new experimental instruments, coupled with constant attempts and repetition, natural philosophers can explore areas that have been untouched for a long time and turn the unknown to the known. During this period, scholars used newly invented air pumps to study vacuum; Newton used prisms to decompose natural light; and advances in optical devices and lenses promoted the development of new instruments and made scientists go further. For a time, these experiments became the key to understanding new inventions and the resulting discoveries.

Joseph Wright's famous painting "the Bird experiment in the Air pump" (An experiment on a bird with The air pump), created by Joseph Wright (often known as Joseph Wright of Derbyshire) in 1768, depicts the performance art characteristics of the experiment itself and the rich forms in which the experiment evokes the aesthetic response of the audience. In the middle of the painting is an experimental operator, but more like a performer. He is not only showing the audience the experiment itself, but also playing the role of controlling the atmosphere, teasing the audience, triggering people's sense of awe, or making people feel that it is an entertainment. When the air in the cylinder was slowly pumped away and the unfortunate bird was dying, the rich expressions of the audience were vividly painted, with mystery, awe, joy and fear because of the mystery. The British chemist Joseph Joseph Priestley has made it clear that these experiences go beyond the starting point of showing phenomena to the public. In his notes, he recorded everyone's reaction after the current experiment, in his description, "this is the most enjoyable scene," giving the audience a feeling of awe, excitement and pleasure.

A very important point in these scientific experiments is their demonstration, and the audience can see the results and feel the change immediately. Taking the air pump experiment as an example, the audience can directly see the result of the gas reduction under the action of the air pump, which is similar to the appreciation of the drama performance, which can bring the audience intuitive feeling and appreciation. It is worth noting that the aesthetic value of scientific experiments in this era is easily appreciated, that is, experiments have features that can bring visual pleasure, such as the prism in Newton's hands, bringing people a beautiful rainbow. But are these characteristics unique to traditional experiments, and can modern experiments also be appreciated?

Aesthetics in modern scientific experiments although great changes have taken place in scientific experiments in the past few centuries, there is still no lack of great experiments in history, even today it is still memorable. Asphalt drip experiment (Pitch drop experiment) is a good example, which is probably the longest experiment in history. The designer of the asphalt drip is Thomas Parnell (Thomas Parnell) of the physics department of the University of Queensland. He places the asphalt in a transparent glass funnel to show the properties of a highly viscous fluid. What appears to be solid asphalt is actually a fluid. The experiment has been going on since 1927, with a total of nine drops, the latest in April 2014, and the 10th is expected to occur sometime in the 2020s. The design of this experiment contains many features of early experiments, such as the simplicity of the experimental device, visual pleasure, and convenience in public places, so that its content can be easily displayed, so it is easy to arouse public enthusiasm and increase participation while appreciating the elegance of its design.

The asphalt drip experiment of the University of Queensland, in order to prove the viscosity of asphalt, there are still many shadows of the early experiments of the Royal Society, but it is a far cry from today's scientific experiments. Today, the experimental device looks more and more complex, and the matter of opening it to the public is not as simple as it used to be. Some large-scale experimental devices, such as the large Hadron Collider (Large Hadron Collider) at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), is an extremely complex device, the product of the collaboration of thousands of scientists, and its experiments go beyond national boundaries, and a large number of long-term and complex operations are needed to obtain an experimental result.

Compared with modern scientific experiments, early science is very simple, and the experimental results can be observed immediately; for example, vacuum pump experiments, people can immediately see the effect of vacuum pumping. However, modern scientific experiments lack this immediacy. The measurement results of the experiments on the large Hadron Collider first need to go through a process of statistical analysis. Then scientists can release the conclusion of whether some "matter" has been detected. Just like the discovery of the Higgs boson, it has gone through a lengthy process of analysis and reconsideration.

So, can we say that modern experiments do not have any pleasant points from an aesthetic point of view? On the contrary, even though these experiments are too complex and the process of obtaining them is a little slow, they can still give people a sense of visual beauty. At the European Nuclear Research Center, people can feel the grandeur of its scale and the complexity of its working process as visitors. At the same time, during the visit, they will also realize that such a super-large-scale design can not only be realized by individual strength, but also contains the wisdom and cooperation of many people. On the surface, it is a device, but it actually encapsulates the creativity of a group.

The importance of beauty we evaluate the beauty of the experiment can be diverse, they can be the creative thinking behind the experimental design, the rationality of the experimental process design, and the elegance and beauty of the experimental results. The experimental results themselves can be very beautiful, such as the rainbow behind the prism and the crystal under the microscope. Of course, the experimental equipment and the experimental process itself can also contain the elements of beauty, and the beauty in the experiment needs a pair of eyes with aesthetic ability.

When an experiment comes into the public's view and becomes the object of attention, people will want to know more about the purpose of the experiment and how to achieve it after being attracted by the charm of the experiment itself.

Therefore, the visual appeal on the surface attracts us to pay attention to the experiment, participate in the experiment, and then discover the deeper beauty, which can come from the in-depth understanding of the experimental design or the meaning of the experiment, so as to increase our understanding of the world. I think it is the interaction between experimental design and meaning that makes the aesthetic value of the experiment. However, do not ignore that the initial visual perception of the experiment plays a very important role in arousing people's attention and participation in the experiment.

reference

Pitch Drop experiment-School of Mathematics and Physics-University of Queensland (uq.edu.au)

This article is translated from Milena Ivanova, The Beauty of Experiments Matters

Original link: https://iai.tv/ articles / the-beauty-of-experiments-matters-auid-2038

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