Seems Like a Little Bit of History Repeating...

John Cale4, originally uploaded by birdlouise.

The Queens official birthday today. Have a nice one your Maj. In her honours list we have two well deserved awards.

First Professor Brian Cox- (super fox). If science is the new religion, Coxy is our begotten saviour, big time. Handsome, genius and media omnipresent. He received an OBE. He should be made king. Of the world, no, the Universe. He has done more to advance the public education in science matters than anything else ever. He has wonderful clarity of thought and a loyalty to his craft that is admirable. And he is breath- stoppingly gorgeous.

Also an MBE for the legend that is John Cale. The man behind the viola drone and most of the arranging on the Velvet Underground`s seminal album. Sometimes referred to as the `Banana`album. Real life living legend, experimental musician and superstar, he caused much opinion and conversation with his installation ` Dark Days`, in the Welsh pavilion ,at the Venice Biennale last year. His biography `Whats Welsh for Zen?` was an astonishing read.

Music and science. One and the same thing, inextricably linked. Scales, systems, maths and movement. The legend that was, or may have been, the pre-Socratic mystic and scientist, Pythagoras, had many beautiful theories about the links between what was then perceived as the Cosmos, and the mathematics that described music and the motions of planetary ellipses. After a vision from the God Thoth, he conceived `The Harmony of the Spheres`.

Johannes Kepler's 1619 treatise , `Harmonica Mundi `,was inspired by Pythagoras writings, you can hear a contenporary musical interpretation , click the link.

Kepler was one of the greatest mathematicians of that time. He wrote `Eponymous Laws for planetary motion `, which in turn informed (Sir) Issac Newtons laws on gravitational force.

So, a job traditionally filled by legends , is now safely being filled by my favorite public science figure. (Note I didn't use the term celebrity). Just so happens that Professor Brian Cox was also a pop star, before he became a scientist for a living.

The links between art and science.

I would love to discuss the origins of the universe with John Cale.