Art — The Colors of The Scientific Method

“There is the description of the problem in front of you. Now list out the way you would address it, from where you would begin to how you would end. List down the pros and cons of addressing it if you come across many methods. Then walk down to us with your possible solutions in your observations book…”

It is as if it was just yesterday that I felt nervous hearing these words. It was during the labs during my M.Sc Physics. The experiments were never taught to us directly but we were asked to come up with solutions to get the preferred results. We were supposed to conduct thorough research and then come up with a plan using our knowledge. I always hated it, as it made me nervous. It was to be done alone not in groups or teams. But a silent war or competition had raised among ourselves, that who is it that would get minimum mistakes and proceed with the experiment first. That made me more nervous, I had to win the race for people to notice me. Only then the professors would praise you and guide you beyond the syllabus. Was it true or just our feelings we never know until today. The professors only said they were preparing us for the world of research.

I was just shopping for a new mobile yesterday, and I was listing out the features I required, the budget I could spend on it, and the pros and cons of selecting a particular model. I had done a thorough research. As I finalized my final choice and circled it, I felt like a deja vu. It was actually my mind playing with the memories. The sheet on which I had jotted down the pros and cons and all the things about the mobile looked so similar to the pages of our lab observation books.

I never knew that the scientific method of approach to things had helped me deal with real-life situations. I didn’t have any background or education related to finances, but the method of labs worked here too. I had just realized it late. I don’t mean that my scientific method worked better than finances, they would have better understanding and approach than me. But it felt so good that the basic scientific method helped me to give a better approach to such situations.

My paths had changed, and I never got enrolled into PhD, but the knowledge that I thought was required for a PhD has been a part of life helping me navigate through life. I realized that the method called “The Scientific Method” has made my life better. Has the Scientific Method also added its colors to my life of art?

Childhood Imagination and Scientific Curiosity

It is said that curiosity and wonder are the basic ingredients of science. I think curiosity and wonder need to be accompanied by imagination are the basic ingredients of science. What made me think so? The imagination of my childhood.

I have always loved imagining and living in an imaginary world. I might have been in the 2nd or 3rd grade when I looked up at the sky with some bare minimum knowledge of Earth being round, sun and moon setting, and rising. But my imagination wasn’t the bare minimum, I had imagined we lived inside a ball, the ball covered us and protected us. The sun, stars, moon, and all the living and non-living things existed inside the ball. And parents, they were born as adults, parents only, kids as kids only. The world in my imagination was static and I believed it doesn’t age or change even though time ticks and new experiences embrace us daily.

Each time those memories played in my mind I just smiled at how innocent I was at that age.

By the time I reached 6th grade, the cosmos made me fall in love with it. Astronomy or Astrophysics became my choices or paths for life. I wanted to know the stories of the stars I saw every day, I loved to imagine and understand what it’s likely on the moon or Mars. I imagined myself floating on the gaseous planet Jupiter, as I knew there was no land as in the terrestrial planets. I continued on the path I chose until my master’s, but I never knew when my destiny changed or when I embraced a beautiful turn in the path of my life.

Art — an unexpected guest

I had found my passion in writing, from poetry to fiction. I loved weaving the world of my imagination into my pieces. But the curiosity and love I had for the cosmos never changed. I felt I belonged to the world of literature, but each time I was drowned in pure literature something seemed missing yet. And it was when I read the books “The Elegant Universe” and “The Fabric of Cosmos” by Brian Greene, that I knew what I was missing. The fiction and imagination in my pieces were spiced up with the real facts of science. I felt complete.

Maybe the imagination that was necessary to understand science made me fall in love with it. The curiosity to know the world, and the home around me, made me dive deeper and intertwin with the essence of science. I never know. But the books helped me realize that actually, science itself is a story. The story of atoms, the electrons jumping, the orbitals, the quantum states, the entanglements, the dual nature of light, the working of our brain, carbon atoms building us up, the organic life, etc. Every topic of science when I think back now seems like a fantasy story, an imaginary world that we normally never experience or rather interpret. This is what made me fall in love with science, I say it now.

The Scientific Method in Life and Art

The scientific method not just includes the systematic approach, but also curiosity, imagination, wonder, observance, and the list goes on. And all of these qualities in me were they inherited? or did the love for science make me apply the scientific method in my life? Or the stories and fiction I loved made me fall in love with science? I never think I can answer it. But my art, the art of words I create today I say for sure is filled with the aroma of science and scientific method. And I never knew how the methods, the beauty of poetry, fiction, and science became a part of life. And I had never realized that they were not just my passion and love but they were guiding me through real life, until now.

The scientific method has been my soul and guide, wondering the nature, imagining the world, curiously knowing the hidden secrets, and passionately weaving them all into words.

When I read the books by Brian Greene for the first time, I could never come out of it. The world was stranger than we had imagined and how he had dealt with such complex topics had a huge influence on me. The words of how the world is strange made me live in my imaginary land, and I had finally woven it into a Sci-Fi Story. It not only made me win a 4th prize at the state level, but my mobile beeped with a message from a commerce background person telling me how she could get a glimpse of quantum mechanics and string theory. She also asked me to explain more of it.

I never realised that my journey had just begun. It led me to find my paths of passion and life intertwine. I have found my path. I have now just stepped into the world of science communication. It is so true that the things in textbooks fade over time, but the lines of a movie or a story remain forever. If science is just a story, not more a subject who won’t love it?

Today I know, I can show people how science is just the story of you and me, the love, the life, and our world.

Just before ending, below is the way I look at space and time today!

“Do you really exist?” She asked.

He turned towards her, shocked by her question.

“What do you mean by “do I exist”? I stand right in front of you, fit and fine!” He asked, irritated.

“Yes, you stand right in front of me. But always gazing into the far future. You seem least interested in the present, just slipping away from me. Why don’t you look back at the path you walked? I enjoy looking in every direction so that I never miss out on anything.” She asked as she sat next to him, trying to look in the same direction as him.

“I never walked dear, to look back. I just stand still looking nowhere. But you dance around me. You pull me into yourself. I lost myself in your arms, as you warp me. You define the past, present, and future. But for me, everything is just present.” He sighed.

“And people think you are an illusion!” She chuckled.

“And ask me to look in the opposite direction too. While I have no direction myself. It’s you who have it.” He growled at her in anger.

Space chuckled again as she warped the angry time, who reciprocated.

Until next time!