YOU would expect the Quantum Theory Group at the University of Glasgow to be pushing boundaries in their exploration of science.
But in addition to working with renowned scientific thinkers, the group is also collaborating with a Scottish artist, resulting in the creation of two large and dramatic paintings depicting the light universe and the dark universe.
Artist Gregor Harvie approached the Quantum Theory Group last summer asking for help with his current work which explores the nature of the universe.
This resulted in Harvie being commissioned to create two large paintings to celebrate the bicentenary of Lord Kelvin, one of the most prominent figures in the university’s history
The paintings will be unveiled by the university on June 8, building up to the 200th anniversary of Kelvin’s birth on June 26.
The collaboration would have won the approval of Einstein, who said: “After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well.”
Harvie agreed that there was more common ground between science and art than people might think.
“There has always been a relationship between art and science. They draw on the same cultural and environmental knowledge and have often explored similar ideas,” he said.
“Both are a search for patterns, for things that are recognisable and repeatable and, ultimately, progress in either requires a leap of the imagination.”
Harvie said the collaboration had been an “immense privilege”.
“As an artist I’m fascinated by physics and working with the Quantum Theory Group has allowed me to fully embrace the subject, developing ideas which I then explore in my work,” he said.
“It has given me the chance to experience physics from the inside and to engage with some of the sharpest scientific minds. I also try to contribute to the subject myself, by asking ‘what if’ questions and imagining new possibilities.”
Professor Stephen Barnett said the collaboration had been “beneficial and enriching” for both students, researchers and staff.
“The collaboration is a definite plus for us,” he said. “Interesting questions come from everywhere. It’s about value, and I think value includes a more rounded education. I think it’s simply a matter of being in an intellectually stimulating environment. And Gregor is part of that.”
This summer, the University of Glasgow will celebrate the life and legacy of Lord Kelvin through a series of events and reflections. Kelvin was an eminent mathematical physicist and engineer and the professor of natural philosophy at the university for 53 years. He is most famous for developing the international system of absolute temperature that bears his name.
He was also interested in the structure of space and proposed a specific shape – a doubly curved, truncated octahedron – as the most efficient structure to fill space.
To celebrate the Kelvin bicentenary, Harvie used computer modelling to construct thousands of “Kelvin cells”, creating an intricate lattice that is the basis of the two huge and highly patterned paintings representing the light and dark universe.
The complexity of modern physics makes it more and more difficult to make progress and in his current work, Harvie considers whether art can help make a leap as “its power is its ability to extrapolate from what is known to conjure what is not”.
“We all get inspiration from fields beyond our own,” he said. “We absorb influences from the pool of ideas that we swim in, and in turn, the ideas we generate feed back into that pool and influence others.”
The unveiling of the two paintings comes in the same month that Glasgow celebrates both art and science more widely. The Glasgow Science Festival starts on June 6 and Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art starts a day later on June 7.
