This document introduces how scientific experimental methods can be applied to art. It discusses how both science and art involve experimentation to explore the unknown. While the goals are different, with science seeking repeatable results and art valuing subjective quality, artists can still learn from the structured approach of science. The document provides guidelines for artistic experimentation, such as having a general idea before testing variables and expecting the unexpected. It emphasizes finding a balance between control and allowing accidents to occur. When discovering a promising technique, the document advises exploring it thoroughly to maximize its potential.
A talk at Webstock 2009 by Nat Torkington. "Join a master of failure on a whirlwind tour of science, computing, and business failures, and discover the secret weapon that is the strategic failure." is how I blurbed it, but the talk itself is more about learning. Watch it, you'll see.
SCI 110Course
http://create.mcgraw-hill.com
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as
permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part
of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form
or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior written permission of the publisher.
This McGraw-Hill Create text may include materials submitted to
McGraw-Hill for publication by the instructor of this course.
The instructor is solely responsible for the editorial content of such
materials. Instructors retain copyright of these additional materials.
ISBN-10: ISBN-13:
2013
1121838936 9781121838932
Contents
1. The Scientific Method 1
2. Section for Chapter 1 27
3. Motion 29
4. Section for Chapter 2 65
5. Energy 68
6. Section for Chapter 3 97
iii
Credits
1. The Scientific Method: Chapter 1 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 1
2. Section for Chapter 1: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 27
3. Motion: Chapter 2 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 29
4. Section for Chapter 2: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 65
5. Energy: Chapter 3 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 68
6. Section for Chapter 3: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 97
iv
Hell
I Sphe
re of the Moon
II Sphe
re of Mercury
III Sph
ere of Venus
IV Sph
ere of the Sun
V Spher
e of Mars
VI Spher
e of Jupiter
of SaturnVI
II Sph
ere of the fixed stars. The Zodiac
IX Cry
stalline sphere. Primum Mobile
VII Sphe
re
Purgatory
He
mis
pher
e
of
wa
ter
The D
ark
W
oo
d
Ai
r
Jerusalem
Earthly
Paradise
H
em
isphere
of Earth
Fire
Confirming Pages
1
1
How Scientists Study Nature
1.1 The Scientific Method
Four Steps
• What the scientific method is.
• The difference between a law and a
theory.
• The role of models in science.
1.2 Why Science Is Successful
Science Is a Living Body of Knowledge,
Not a Set of Frozen Ideas
• Why the scientific method is so success-
ful in understanding the natural world.
The Solar System
1.3 A Survey of the Sky
Everything Seems to Circle the North
Star
• Why Polaris seems almost stationary in
the sky.
• How to distinguish planets from stars
without a telescope.
1.4 The Ptolemaic System
The Earth as the Center of the Universe
• How the ptolemaic system explains the
astronomical universe.
1.5 The Copernican System
A Spinning Earth That Circles the Sun
• How the copernican system explains
the astronomical system.
1.6 Kepler’s Laws
How the Planets Actually Move
• The significance of Kepler’s laws.
1.7 Why Copernicus Was Right
Evidence Was Needed That Supported
His Model Wh.
Unit 1, Lesson 1.4 - What is a Scientist?judan1970
Unit 1, Lesson 1.4 - What is a Scientist?
Lesson Outline:
1. Introduction
2. Values of a Good Scientist
3. Careers in Science
4. Feature: Foreign Scientist of the Week!
Proposal for a University Department for 'The Study Of Time'Rick Doble
Time is the most used noun in the English language according to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. This is probably true for most other languages as well. Time is critical to everything we do as individuals, as nations, and as human beings who inhabit the Earth. Yet there are virtually no University departments or courses that deal with the human experience of time. This paper proposes that such a department be established and suggests topics and areas of study that need to be included. Suggestions are based on my blog DeconstructingTime now in its fifth years, with more than 70 blog-essays, almost 50,000 page views from more than 100 countries. Much of this work is also available at my site at slideshare.net in eBook or in individual papers.
Some have claimed Time-Flow Photography (experimental imagery with continuous motion and long shutter speeds) is accidental and others say it is not a legitimate form of photography. For this reason I wrote a Manifesto refuting those statements and explaining its goals.
You can view and/or download the Manifesto in PDF form.
More Related Content
Similar to Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect by Rick Doble
A talk at Webstock 2009 by Nat Torkington. "Join a master of failure on a whirlwind tour of science, computing, and business failures, and discover the secret weapon that is the strategic failure." is how I blurbed it, but the talk itself is more about learning. Watch it, you'll see.
SCI 110Course
http://create.mcgraw-hill.com
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as
permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part
of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form
or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior written permission of the publisher.
This McGraw-Hill Create text may include materials submitted to
McGraw-Hill for publication by the instructor of this course.
The instructor is solely responsible for the editorial content of such
materials. Instructors retain copyright of these additional materials.
ISBN-10: ISBN-13:
2013
1121838936 9781121838932
Contents
1. The Scientific Method 1
2. Section for Chapter 1 27
3. Motion 29
4. Section for Chapter 2 65
5. Energy 68
6. Section for Chapter 3 97
iii
Credits
1. The Scientific Method: Chapter 1 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 1
2. Section for Chapter 1: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 27
3. Motion: Chapter 2 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 29
4. Section for Chapter 2: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 65
5. Energy: Chapter 3 from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 68
6. Section for Chapter 3: Chapter from The Physical Universe, 15th Edition by Krauskopf, Beiser, 2014 97
iv
Hell
I Sphe
re of the Moon
II Sphe
re of Mercury
III Sph
ere of Venus
IV Sph
ere of the Sun
V Spher
e of Mars
VI Spher
e of Jupiter
of SaturnVI
II Sph
ere of the fixed stars. The Zodiac
IX Cry
stalline sphere. Primum Mobile
VII Sphe
re
Purgatory
He
mis
pher
e
of
wa
ter
The D
ark
W
oo
d
Ai
r
Jerusalem
Earthly
Paradise
H
em
isphere
of Earth
Fire
Confirming Pages
1
1
How Scientists Study Nature
1.1 The Scientific Method
Four Steps
• What the scientific method is.
• The difference between a law and a
theory.
• The role of models in science.
1.2 Why Science Is Successful
Science Is a Living Body of Knowledge,
Not a Set of Frozen Ideas
• Why the scientific method is so success-
ful in understanding the natural world.
The Solar System
1.3 A Survey of the Sky
Everything Seems to Circle the North
Star
• Why Polaris seems almost stationary in
the sky.
• How to distinguish planets from stars
without a telescope.
1.4 The Ptolemaic System
The Earth as the Center of the Universe
• How the ptolemaic system explains the
astronomical universe.
1.5 The Copernican System
A Spinning Earth That Circles the Sun
• How the copernican system explains
the astronomical system.
1.6 Kepler’s Laws
How the Planets Actually Move
• The significance of Kepler’s laws.
1.7 Why Copernicus Was Right
Evidence Was Needed That Supported
His Model Wh.
Unit 1, Lesson 1.4 - What is a Scientist?judan1970
Unit 1, Lesson 1.4 - What is a Scientist?
Lesson Outline:
1. Introduction
2. Values of a Good Scientist
3. Careers in Science
4. Feature: Foreign Scientist of the Week!
Similar to Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect by Rick Doble (20)
Proposal for a University Department for 'The Study Of Time'Rick Doble
Time is the most used noun in the English language according to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. This is probably true for most other languages as well. Time is critical to everything we do as individuals, as nations, and as human beings who inhabit the Earth. Yet there are virtually no University departments or courses that deal with the human experience of time. This paper proposes that such a department be established and suggests topics and areas of study that need to be included. Suggestions are based on my blog DeconstructingTime now in its fifth years, with more than 70 blog-essays, almost 50,000 page views from more than 100 countries. Much of this work is also available at my site at slideshare.net in eBook or in individual papers.
Some have claimed Time-Flow Photography (experimental imagery with continuous motion and long shutter speeds) is accidental and others say it is not a legitimate form of photography. For this reason I wrote a Manifesto refuting those statements and explaining its goals.
You can view and/or download the Manifesto in PDF form.
Thoughts About the Future of Art in the 21st Century (1997)Rick Doble
Written over 15 years ago, this is an experimental outline written in 1997 during the earliest days of the Internet and digital photography. The purpose of this outline was to ask questions and suggest answers about the role of art as the world entered the 21st Century. Because the outline was open ended and experimental, it also invited others to join the discussion. This paper was widely reprinted across the Internet around the year 2000 and today can still be found online at the archives of the National Library of Australia, a website by the Board of Education - City of New York and the online Canadian publication, Annihilation Fountain. See more about these references in this document.
Time-Flow Photography: Experimental Imagery with Continuous Motion and Long S...Rick Doble
For the first time in the history of photography, digital photographers can now experiment with photographic effects and immediately review the results. This capability, which is crucial for experimentation, opens up a new world of imagery with slow shutter speeds that 'paint' light in a variety of ways. Yet some people believe that the effects of movement in slow-exposure photography are about the same and accidental. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a quite sophisticated vocabulary, a physics of light and motion, that can be understood and once understood is not accidental. This eBook details the ways these different motions are registered on photographs and the new artwork that is now possible -- work that has its roots in modern art.
Digital Pictures Made Directly From the Big Bang Radio Signal by Rick DobleRick Doble
In 2003, Rick Doble photographed a series of images made directly from the radio signals from the Big Bang explosion that created the universe. These signals, known as "cosmic microwave background radiation" or CMB or CMBR, can be processed with computer graphics. The resulting imagery is quite unusual -- repeating patterns, that never quite repeat. These patterns are not unlike biomorphic art that was made by a number of artists in the 20th century. This project seeks to compare and combine art and science and at the same time create a connection with our origins.
Space-Time Digital Photography: Photographs Recorded Over a Duration of TimeRick Doble
A presentation from the SCIENAR exhibit (Science & Art) in Bucharest, Romania, 2010 at the Bucharest National University of Arts: Why Space-Time? Each of these digital photographs was taken over a number of seconds. The idea was to record a sense of motion along with the passage of time, thus the term "space-time photography." This space-time idea draws on the 100 year old concept of Albert Einstein who saw time as another dimension and who saw space and time as connected to each other. This idea also comes from the Futurist artists in Italy 100 years ago who wanted to depict the continuity of movement over time.
Stealing the Oceans: Humanity Struggles for Survival in This 1000 Year Epic W...Rick Doble
Stealing the Oceans by Rick Doble is a hard science fiction novella based on our current understanding of science and technology. An unusual SF story, it covers 1000 years when the people of the Earth are forced to make drastic changes. This occurs because ocean levels begin to gradually fall for hundreds of years -- with no end in sight. Using the latest technology, world governments work to determine the reason. But the discovery of the cause leads to panic and desperate attempts to rebuild civilizations. This epic story is as much about the forces involved as the individual people -- and comes complete with a city directory for one of the new cities that is established, along with a full description of how a new culture evolved.
A Brief History of Light & Photography by Rick DobleRick Doble
This fully illustrated 23 page paper traces the history of photography and our understanding of light from prehistoric times to the present day and also speculates about the future. From Aristotle to Einstein the camera is much older than most realize. Because photography can record fine detail and freeze a moment of the past, it has also transformed our modern understanding of time and also provided a record of the past which was previously unavailable.
5 Year Photographic Study of Musicians in Motion: Still Photos Exposed For Se...Rick Doble
Using the power of digital photographer, this interactive PowerPoint eBook for teachers, students and artists examines the depiction of motion in still photography. It is based in part on the innovative work of the Cubist painters (Picasso & Braque), the Italian Futurists, and in particular the photographs of Anton Bragaglia, a photographer associated with the Italian Futurist movement -- around 1900. A brief explanation of their work and ideas is included in an introduction. This interactive PowerPoint presentation concentrates on the movements of musicians, exposed over an extended period of time, in candid situations -- dubbed 'time flow' photography. The resulting imagery is similar to the goals of the Italian Futurists. In over 60 candid digital photographs taken over five years, this eBook presents photos of guitarists, violinists, singers, bass players and more. Teachers, students and schools may use this presentation in their work, if they want -- see the notice in the eBook.
Historic Timeline: The Capture of Movement in Painting and Photography by Ric...Rick Doble
From Leonardo da Vinci to Rembrandt to the Italian Futurists to the invention of motion pictures by Edison, there has been a 500 year quest to depict motion in still images. This fully illustrated paper traces that development and suggests how the quest for the depiction of motion in still imagery might be continued.
Hadj Ounis's most notable work is his sculpture titled "Metamorphosis." This piece showcases Ounis's mastery of form and texture, as he seamlessly combines metal and wood to create a dynamic and visually striking composition. The juxtaposition of the two materials creates a sense of tension and harmony, inviting viewers to contemplate the relationship between nature and industry.
Fashionista Chic Couture Maze & Coloring Adventures is a coloring and activity book filled with many maze games and coloring activities designed to delight and engage young fashion enthusiasts. Each page offers a unique blend of fashion-themed mazes and stylish illustrations to color, inspiring creativity and problem-solving skills in children.
Boudoir photography, a genre that captures intimate and sensual images of individuals, has experienced significant transformation over the years, particularly in New York City (NYC). Known for its diversity and vibrant arts scene, NYC has been a hub for the evolution of various art forms, including boudoir photography. This article delves into the historical background, cultural significance, technological advancements, and the contemporary landscape of boudoir photography in NYC.
Brushstrokes of Inspiration: Four Major Influences in Victor Gilbert’s Artist...KendraJohnson54
Throughout his career, Victor Gilbert was influenced heavily by various factors, the most notable being his upbringing and the artistic movements of his time. A rich tapestry of inspirations appears in Gilbert’s work, ranging from their own experiences to the art movements of that period.
This document announces the winners of the 2024 Youth Poster Contest organized by MATFORCE. It lists the grand prize and age category winners for grades K-6, 7-12, and individual age groups from 5 years old to 18 years old.
Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect by Rick Doble
1. Introduction to Scientific Experimental
Methods for Artists:
How Science and Art Can Intersect
First printed in 2011 at HASTAC
(Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory)
NOTE: This is the first of a continuing series of articles about art, science and experimentation by me, Rick Doble, the author
of and photographer for the book Experimental Digital Photography.
Science and art often involve a similar point of view. Experimenting is one of those areas.
Each discipline can learn from the other.
SCIENCE AND EXPERIMENTATION
In Plato's Dialogues, Socrates is asked: "How will you look for it, Socrates, when you do not
know at all what it is? How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you
should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing that you did not know? " And
Socrates agrees with the questioner.
While Plato's logic is impeccable, his argument is flawed. Scientists and artists do discover
things that they did not know. Often using intuition and not logic, experiments have shed light
on the unknown and brought what was formerly unclear within the grasp of human
knowledge.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
Albert Einstein
Just a few years after Plato wrote the Dialogues, the Greek Eratosthenes performed one of
the first experiments in which he showed the Earth was a globe and calculated the
circumference within 200 miles of today's measurements. And starting with Galileo, who many
believe pioneered the modern methods of experimenting, much of the modern world has been
constructed due to experiments.
While experimenting is often thought of as primarily a logical scientific tool, it is frequently all
too human -- even in the world of science. By definition experimentation explores areas that
have not been explored. While there are some guideposts, these can often be defined only in
the broadest terms. In the end, accident frequently plays a major role in scientific
experimentation. And in the end it often takes intuition and an open mind to understand the
nature of an unexpected result -- not unlike the intuitive mind of an artist.
Rick Doble Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect Page 1 of 5
2. It was quite the most incredible event that has ever happened to me in my life. It
was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper
and it came back and hit you. On consideration, I realized that this scattering
backward must be the result of a single collision, and when I made calculations I
saw that it was impossible to get anything of that order of magnitude unless you
took a system in which the greater part of the mass of the atom was concentrated
in a minute nucleus. It was then that I had the idea of an atom with a minute
massive center, carrying a charge.
Ernest Rutherford (commenting on his experiment that resulted in discovering the
basic structure of the atom)
As any scientist can explain, experimenting is an art. Some of the greatest findings have
come about because of a clever experiment that revealed a significant result such as
Rutherford's famous experiment mentioned above. And although every new experiment will
be different, there are lessons to be learned from past experimentation.
ART AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF EXPERIMENTING
I believe contemporary art can learn from science and incorporate some scientific methods
into its own quest for exploration. While art and science are quite different, experimentation
has been central to major art movements in the 20th century and today is a major trend with
digital art and photography.
All the members of the [Abstract Expressionist] group were experimental in their
approach. The absence of preconceived outcomes was a celebrated feature of
Abstract Expressionism.
Mark Rothko (1947) wrote that
I think of my pictures as dramas... Neither the action nor the actors can be
anticipated, or described in advance. They begin as an unknown adventure in an
unknown space... Ideas and plans that existed in the mind at the start were simply
the doorway through which one left the world in which they occur.
Galenson, David W. The Life Cycles of Modern Artists.National Bureau of
Economic Research, University of Chicago, 2002.
While the blunt force experimental method of trial and error is the often used by artists, there
are structural approaches that may make experiments more productive. With the Internet
there is now a wealth of information about various scientific experiments of the past and
artists should borrow ideas that will further their artistic efforts.
NOTE: Experimentation in the arts is not limited to visual arts. Plays, poetry, novels, music,
short stories, dance etc. all lend themselves to experimentation.
Rick Doble Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect Page 2 of 5
3. WHERE SCIENCE AND ART DO NOT INTERSECT
While ideas and methods from science can be quite useful to the artist, there are limits. A
scientific discovery must meet the test of the scientific method, meaning that the same results
must occur when the discovery is tested by independent scientists, i.e., the results must be
repeatable.
However, for the artist, a good photograph is a good photograph, a good painting a good
painting -- if it works, it works. Nothing further is needed. The only point in going further
would be to explore the possibilities of a newly discovered experimental technique that might
produce a series of interesting photographs or paintings.
GENERAL STEPS FOR EXPERIMENTATION: Guidelines for artists
Step #1: Have a general idea about what you are after
If your ideas are too general, you will have no guidance; on the other hand, if your ideas are
too specific, you might miss promising possibilities that don't fit with your expectations.
Step #2: Do some initial tests
Determine whether this avenue of exploration can yield promising results -- in my case it was
the Ferris Wheel pictures that showed me the possibilities and also the range of effects.
Rick Doble Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect Page 3 of 5
4. In one of my initial explorations to test my general ideas about motion and digital
photography, I used the movement of a Ferris Wheel combined with camera movement along
with the effect of bright lights against a black night sky. As a result I was able to create a
variety of interesting experimental photographs which showed me that I would be able to
capture a wide range of motion effects with digital photography and that it was an avenue
worth exploring. In this series of pictures the top left frame is a realistic picture of a Ferris
Wheel at night and the other five were created with motion effects.
Step #3: Define the key variables
What are the variables that you want to explore and work with?
Step #4: Control other variables that are not part of the experiment
Try to keep other variables constant and unchanging during the experiment and if they must
change, be aware of how they change.
Step #5: Having understood the variables, try a number of different approaches and
techniques
Explore a number of ways to work with your key variables.
Step #6: Expect the unexpected
Assume that you will get results that don't fit with your expectations. Go over your results
many times, even those that did not work, to see if something grabs your attention.
Step #7: Understand what you did
It is important when experimenting to be able to know what you did when you get a good
result. This ability to backtrack and recreate what led to the result is crucial -- otherwise all
you have is a successful result that you know is possible, but no idea how it happened.
A DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN CONTROL AND ACCIDENT
The Principle of Limited Sloppiness in Science:
Why it is important to allow accident and unintended elements at times into the
experiment.
"If you're too sloppy, then you never get reproducible results, and then you never
can draw any conclusions; but if you are just a little sloppy, then when you see
something startling, (...) you nail it down (...). So I called it the 'Principle of Limited
Sloppiness'."
Delbruck, Max. Interview. Oral History Project. Pasadena: California Institute of
Technology Archives, 1978.
How a Closed Mind Can Prevent New Discoveries:
Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for
making discoveries; they also make very poor observations. Of necessity, they
observe with a preconceived idea, and when they devise an experiment, they can
see, in its results, only a confirmation of their theory. In this way they distort
observations and often neglect very important facts because they do not further
their aim.
Bernard, Claude. An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine(1865).
New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957.
Rick Doble Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect Page 4 of 5
5. WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DISCOVER SOMETHING USEFUL
My Advice: When you find a promising effect, explore it thoroughly. What you have found is a
rich vein of possibilities and you should mine it for all you can get. A picture that looked great
at the beginning might lead to a much stronger one with some more work -- so treasure those
first successes but then test them and take them to the limit to get the most out of them. This
area that you have discovered, becomes a sub-zone of your experiment that is rich with
possibilities.
Rick Doble Introduction to Scientific Experimental Methods for Artists: How Science and Art Can Intersect Page 5 of 5