Collaboration of Physics and Poetry

Scientists and poets can question accepted concepts together. However, wider platforms are required for these partnerships to reach their full artistic, scientific and social potential. The Ancient Greek verb poi meaning “to do” is the origin of the English term “poetry” which refers to the act of creating something.

We share with you the thoughts of our author on the Cooperation of Physics and Poetry.

I am a poet and I understand that poetry is a noun and a verb. The word "root" is derived from the Latin radical, which gave rise to the adjective "radical", denoting the need for radical change and reform.
Like scientists, poets deeply question paradigms to bring about change and reform.

Both physicists and poets intervene in culture and consciousness in creating the conditions for discoveries, such as the Higgs boson at CERN in Switzerland.

This action they create is known as poisis, the artistic practice of creating. I work with scientists at scientific research institutes like CERN to conduct my poisis experiments.

Researchers discuss their work with me and often give me access to their behind-the-scenes experiments. I discuss with them the relationship between poetry and science, and occasionally give lectures and poetry readings.

On my last trip to CERN, CERN particle physicist James Beacham and I discussed the possibility of doing a physics-poetry experiment. We also examined the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs boson is located.

We wrote poetry and are currently writing a collaborative scientific paper on the experiment to produce a book about its physics and poetics.

Additionally, I went to Chile, where I met astronomer Satya Gontcho at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Gontcho works at California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to study dark energy. Itself Odissi She also performs the Indian traditional dance known as

We worked together to create a “dance poem” in which I read a poem I wrote on dark energy as I danced along those lines.

Such physics-poetry collaborations support the elimination of disciplinary clusters that have persisted for more than a century, thereby broadening approaches and thinking.

However, in order for these ties to fully flourish, scientists need to be educated in literary arts, and poets in various branches of science.

For example, a physicist might take classes in reading and composing poetry, one of the tools we use to think and comprehend language, to gain insights into literary theory and poetic craft. Much like a poet enrolling in quantum physics courses to explore the creative problems scientists are investigating, larger platforms are required, although similar training happens occasionally.

Today's physics-poetry collaborations are based on a long history of literary and artistic responses to science.

They are also tied to the fact that many of the early scientists were also poets, painters, or philosophers.

I have organized and participated in conferences, discussion projects, and class visits at universities, bookstores, and scientific research institutes to help build a global network of scientists and poets interested in science and the arts.

These poetry-science links are a groundbreaking literary extension of the well-established art-science relationship where science connects the arts through outreach, funding proposals, and education.

There is an increasing partnership between the disciplines of knowledge and artistic practice, including the link between art and science.

Combining science and art also offers the advantage of helping in the fight against violence, deception, ignorance and discrimination.

The relationship between art and science contributes to the prevention and resolution of sociopolitical problems as well as the expansion of knowledge and experience.

In addition, with widespread social criticism of art, science is protected from harmful commercial and military purposes. Additionally, it encourages greater creativity and analytical thinking by expanding the role of art.

I concentrate on quantum physics when I use poetry and poetics to explore unanswered questions in cutting-edge physics, questions mediated by translations between mathematics and language.

I say this because the most pressing issues in modern physics – such as how to build a quantum computer, how to reconcile quantum physics with relativity, and how dark energy affects cosmic acceleration – all revolve around quantum physics.

But there is another reason why I am interested in quantum physics. From a classical logical perspective, the quantum world is often described as strange. But when I look at the quantum universe through the lens of poetic logic, it feels familiar and poetic.

To me, quantum physics describes properties of quantum phenomena such as uncertainty, observation, superposition, and entanglement using unrecognized artistic principles.

The future position and momentum of a subatomic particle cannot be predicted with confidence as its current state is measured by probabilities according to the uncertainty or uncertainty principle; ambiguities in poetry arising from ambiguity can be a sign of creative depth.

In quantum physics, the observer has an influence on what is being watched.

Similarly, a reader's interpretation of a poem can change its intended meaning. A subatomic particle can exist simultaneously in many space-time states in a quantum superposition; poetry can reveal different experiences with space-time, such as synchronicity.

Poetry can exhibit quantum efficiency, so classical paradoxes need not necessarily be addressed.

In quantum entanglement, distant quantum states of once-closer particles can communicate instantly. Like the particle collider or the telescope, poetry is an advanced technology that expands the senses, mind and imagination. The seemingly impossible is often possible and even inevitable in both poetry and quantum physics.

Poetry and physics are not integrative endeavors that lead to unalterable truth. Both professions become even more surprising when assumed and practiced together.

They bring new types of knowledge and experience, create new ideas and technologies, and question commonly accepted concepts of the world. Our workarounds not only help scientific, artistic and social progress, but also make our questions.

Source: physics.aps.org -Amy Catanzano

📩 28/07/2022 13:37