Wednesday 7 April 2010

Scientist and Artist and Pulsar

Pulsar Hand Nebular


James Turrell at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I have sat in here. Wonderfull.
Pulsar Diagram



`Our nice simple picture is getting messier and messier and messier...`
`Nothing is static, nothing is final...`
The prize winning scientist Jocelyn Bell was a brilliant student. In 1967 she was the first ever scientist to discover the fast, regular radiation emissions from pulsating electromagnetic stars, nicknamed by a journalist as Pulsars. Controversially,her university lecturer received the Nobel prize for the discovery.
Pulsars are amazing and charismatic bodies. Very small, planet sized and incredibly dense,
with enormous magnetic fields.
Pulsars occur one or two stages before a star could become a black hole at the end of its twinkling life. The pulses are caused by brief flashes of the radiation emitted from the Pulsars poles, dectected from the earth as it spins on its axis at incredible speeds.
Jocelyns faith as a Quaker is insically linked to her belief in the infinite nature of the universe, and her faith in the aspects of science that encourage understanding , rather that seeing it as a race for the truth`.
Another of my favorite artists is James Turrell. He to is a practicing Quaker. Quakerism is a faith , a religion without doctrine or Dogma, that teaches truth only in terms of self realisation and understanding .
I have been lucky enough to experience James Turrells work at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and at an exhibition in London. He uses light as a medium to explore spirituality and entity. His work transcends the boundaries of form. It is pure and magnanimous. Full of the conviction of his faith.

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