Week 9: Space + Art


Science flourished throughout the European Renaissance and continued into the 17th century with the invention of a telescope that could observe the planets in space. Such fascination with space lead to exploration that remains pertinent in present day.

Courtesy of: 
https://www.wired.com/2011/06/the-arabick-roots-of-science-and-their-fruit-to-come/

The launch of Sputnik in 1957 started the intense space race between the United States and Russia. This would change America and the World forever and spread paranoia over Americans. Soon after animals were sent into space. Russia was the first by sending a dog into space, however the dog was not brought back to earth due to its death 6 days into he trip because of a failed living apparatus. Next the USA put a chimpanzee into space, an animal most similar to humans. Russia yet again beat the United States again by putting the first man in space for a 108-minute flight. A month later the USA put their first man in space. A year later in 1962 the USA finally beat the Russians by having their astronaut John Glenn be the first man to orbit the earth. The United States ultimately won the space race by putting the first man on the moon in 1969 making a huge leap for mankind and space excursions. Although there have been many exciting moments in space exploration, there have been some tragic ones as well. Some of these moments include the Apollo 13, Space Challenger, and Shuttle Columbia. Shuttle Columbia was one of the most tragic events killing all 7 crew-members in the first minute in flight.

Courtesy of: 
http://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-john-glenn-is-first-american-to-orbit-earth

The obsession of space travel and exploration has heavily influenced the entertainment industry. Movies and TV series in the past and in the present are set in space or plotted around it. A recent movie made, Hidden Figures, was a based off of a real story honoring the colored women masterminds behind the race to space. Space has had an impact on the world such that we literally revolved our selves around it.

Courtesy of:  : http://www.metacritic.com/movie/hidden-figures    



Citations: 

Lee Shetterly, Margot. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. First edition. New York, NY: William Morrow, 2016.
Uconlineprogram. "8 space pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 29 July 2013. Web. 02 June 2017.

Uconlineprogram. "8 space pt2 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 29 July 2013. Web. 02 June 2017.

Uconlineprogram. "8 space pt3 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 29 July 2013. Web. 02 June 2017.

Uconlineprogram. "Space pt4." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2012. Web. 02 June 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Math + Art

Image
Before this week’s lecture on math and art I never considered the fact that math was a foundation of art. Professor Vensa’s lecture “ Mathematics-pt1- Zero Perspective Golden Mean” demonstrates the degree to which math was and is used by artist in their work today. Artist used mathematics to create their paintings, drawing, etc. One of the procedures used was “the golden ratio,” which was a divine proportion that was considered to be aesthetically pleasing. It is similarly noted in the article  What is the Golden Ratio?  that the golden ratio "is known as one of the most visually satisfying of all geometric forms- hence, the appearance of the golden ratio in art,"(Hom). The vanishing point theory was a graphical perspective also used by artists to display the correct geometric perspective. Therefore, as professor Vensa stated in the intro to math “the connection of art and science is mathematics.” (Courtesy of:  http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Ema
Read more

Week 3: Robotics + Art

Image
When the topic of industrialization is brought up I tend to think about factories and mass production. The creation of machines was responsible for such mass production. A machine that we all use today was starting to be formed and created at this time in history too. It is the machine we all know today as the computer. Instead the first similar to its kind was the Turing Machine. An English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist named Alan Turing created the machine. Professor Vesna mentioned in her Robotics pt.3 lecture “he was a phenomenal genius and really made a major impact in computer science and artificial intelligence, and is considered the father of computer science.” Courtesy of:  http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article040101.html While learning about Alan Turing from this week’s lecture it reminded me about a movie I saw a few years ago. To my surprise, when I looked up the movie I found that it was a
Read more

Week 1 Blog Post: Two Cultures

Image
     Both professor Vensa and C.P Snow have optimism that there will end up being some sort of bridge or “third culture” that will close the between the arts and sciences. However, “there is still much work to be done in building the bridge between the humanities and the sciences, “ (Vensa, 122). I agree with the optimism portrayed by C.P. snow and Vensa about the possible existence between the literary intellects and scientists. I am a psychology major so I experience both of the two cultures everyday. Experiencing both cultures within my major illustrates an example of a bridge being formed between the two cultures.       In our immediate world here at UCLA there is an obvious division between the literary sphere and the scientific sphere. Our campus is specifically divided into two halves; north campus and south campus. North campus consists of the literary and art majors, whereas south campus consists of the math and science majors.  The physical divide of our campus is an
Read more