Wednesday, June 10, 2009

[Yasmin_discussions] Fwd: artists and atoms: fission and fusion

patrick

thanks for taking us in a new direction ! about ITER as a research
facility in haute provence and its architectural design

provence of course has a very long history of hosting research
communities !!! one of the most beautiful " research" facilities here
is the cisterian abbey of Senanque !! it was founded in 1148

http://www.senanque.fr/

monasteries in provence of course not only served as religious
institutions, but housed the libraries and copyists that transmitted
knowledge for generations

in the middle ages, monasteries were in a network of travellers
througout europe, they werent as well connected as the internet
but news travelled very quickly.

Provence is also known as a fertile ground for religious 'heresies"
and free thinking- the religious wars were particularly bloody here.

so its interesting to think of ITER as a reseach facility in provence
within the cultural history of monastic centers as centers of research
and documentation and free thinking !

roger


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: W. Patrick McCray <pmccray@history.ucsb.edu>
Date: Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] artists and atoms: fission and fusion
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS <yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>


Roger and Co.

This is really intriguing...it makes me think of the mapping and imaging of
the nanoscale. But I suppose that takes us away from the nuclear/atomic and
fission/fusion topic. As a historian, I am less familiar with this seemingly
avant-garde approaches to melding art and nuclear science. With regard to
ITER - I would imagine an important aspect of it would be the simple one of
aesthetics in terms of how one plunks down such a large facility in the
French countryside. What efforts will be made, architecturally, so that it
blends in? This makes me think of the aesthetics connected to the building
of Fermilab:

http://history.fnal.gov/aesthetic_science.html

L. M. Lederman, ŒŒWilson and Fermilab,¹¹ in Aesthetics and Science:
Proceedings in Honor of Robert R. Wilson (Batavia: Fermilab, 1979), pp.
1­23.

These are just a few points of reference; the new book on Fermilab by
Hoddeson, et al. discusses Robert Wilson's vision for a "lab on the prairie"
in more detail.

Patrick

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