The Noticer

Poetic Science Goethe Mix Tape

On Goethe, Scientific Understanding, and NOVA

I wanted to talk a bit more about Goethe, but in a more relative way. In his experiments, Goethe saw more merit in the visual and conceptual understanding of natural phenomena than in the exact numbers, figures, and calculations that constitute how these phenomena are measured. While Newton felt he needed to relate numbers and the exact degree of refraction to the spectrum of colors, Goethe chose to comment on the colors themselves - how the spectrum went from red to dark purple, how blue and yellow came together to form green, how magenta or pink started to form at both ends, etc. I think Goethe's approach makes more sense because I think that one must mention the basic observations involved in a given phenomena before he or she delves into the specifics of the phenomena. As an example, saying that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s/s means nothing if one doesn't know what the Law of Gravity is.

As another example of this, I thought of TV shows that teach scientific concepts to laypeople like NOVA. As far as I've seen, shows like NOVA tent to take an approach like that of Goethe's when relating scientific knowledge, as they tend to stray away from the exact calculations and equations that so into the topic being discussed. When I watch a show like NOVA, I don't see rigid, completely left-brained individuals discussing the specifics of scientific concepts, I see eloquent speakers like Michio Kaku and Neil deGrasse Tyson relay ideas using creative metaphors and examples to relate scientific ideas to laypeople, comparing wormholes in apples to wormholes in space or visualizing a relativistic clock that accounts for movement. It is ideas like this that Goethe would approve of, and an ideology that I have come to favor. It seems that scientific understanding has very little to do with numbers, after all.

-Christopher Hoef

Goethe's Colors Merge Art and Science

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German scientist, poet, and playwright who was a fascinating figure in that he was essentially able merge the arts and sciences in his works, a feat that, considering the modern tendency to view these two disciplines as somewhat conflicting, now seems quite incredible. However, after looking at his works, I like the idea of adding more art and literature to science, as it adds more subjectivity and true understanding to the field.

Take, for instance, a study of colors, which is actually one of the things Goethe is known for doing. We can figure out everything scientific and mathematical that there is to know about lights and colors, such as their frequencies, wavelengths, and position on a "color wheel" relating these values, but would that really describe the colors themselves? I think that Goethe wanted to show that the answer to that question is no, because we can study the physical properties of colors all we want, but these properties mean nothing to our perception, all we see is reds and greens and blues and the colors themselves.

This is just one example of how Goethe's merging of Art and Science can have a practical application and can give us an idea of what scientific discovery means for our everyday experience. Goethe just wanted to make science more relevant to the common person. He just wanted to make it all more human and more real.

-Christopher Hoef

Curiosities of the Color Wheel

Reading about Goethe's experimentations with the origins of light and color this week got me interested about other curiosities of the color wheel. In my journey though many an internet page led me to find a very interesting phenomenon about the color magenta. While this color may seem just as uninteresting as the rest of them, there are actually some very interesting aspects to magenta. To understand what is so interesting about magenta, one must first understand the basic properties of the visible light spectrum. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that the visible light spectrum is made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Now you may be thinking, "Wait Joey, how could there possibly be a color wheel? Wouldn't violet and red have to be connected somehow?" If these were your thoughts then you are indeed correct! It turns out that our brains have invented this color so that it can "bridge the gap" between red and violet on the light spectrum. When our brains interpret color, they detect the wavelength of light emitted or reflected from an object. When we detect light of multiple wavelengths our brains produce compounds of these colors (e.g. yellow light + red light = orange light.) Your brain does this by averaging the two wavelengths of light that the eye receives. The one case where your brain fails at this is with the case of adding red light to violet light. The average of these two wavelengths would be green (that seems wrong doesn't it?) Instead of producing green, your brain invents this new color magenta! Isn't that interesting? I'm sure that if you have read this you will never look at the color magenta the same way ever again!

-Joey Gurrentz

http://www.biotele.com/magenta.html

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

East Side Gallery, Berlin, Germany

While in Germany I took this picture of the East Side Gallery, which is a gallery of paintings on the Berlin Wall.  I took the picture because I was studying at a Goethe Institute and I found it interesting how many places I was able to find with Goethe.  Goethe is beloved by the Germans, rightfully so, and there is much around Germany remembering him.  Goethe is painted between Schiller, a poet and writer, and Einstein, a scientist.  Goethe embodied both roles as seen in the works Faust and Goethe's Theory of Colours.  For this reason, I find it fitting that he is placed in between the Schiller and Einstein.

Goethe & Newton: Optics

Goethe spielt Ukulele

Urpflanze

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Urpflanze.png

Turpin, Pierre. Die Kunst der Künste, "Urpflanze.png." Last modified 6/03/2010. Accessed November 21, 2011. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Urpflanze.png.

Jackie Brand

Goethe's Color Wheel

Source
Andriy Bocharov's Blog

Goethe

Image Source: Differnet.com