I asked Shiloh e. (shiloh.emmons) about the Science Circle Science Fair. She said, “For this year we have chosen the underwater location at the lighthouse, the temperate coastal and marine ecosystems (New England) of Linda Kelley. No market stalls or pergolas” this year. This time there is a new but old format.
Shiloh continues, “Create or bring ONE object that embodies the creative idea you wish to share, as well as ONE poster to support your concept. Bring an object + poster that you can pull out of your inventory, on the spot, and about which you can inform us for 10 minutes.” There is a prize, The Da Vinci Award, of L$10,000 for the best project.
Registration for the Science Fair has closed and the participants are listed on the Science Circle web page. Come on June 26 from 7:00am to 10:00am SLT to see and learn about the interesting projects.
This format is like the old science fairs of my youth. We all would do some form of project or science experiment, grow beans in two different soils or make a model volcano (See example below), then make a tri-fold poster and put it all on display in the gym for our parents to come see.
I asked Shiloh why she chose this format. She said, “The object and poster have to be more than mere art. It has to convey scientific concepts. We just want to encourage the scientist to create, be artistic. Most science minds, I am impressed, are extremely creative. The stereotype is that science people are bungling, sloppy, tons of papers. I disagree with that stereotype. Most of whom I meet at Science Circle have strong art values and presentation focus. Everyone I know of is very creative, hence the Da Vinci award,” named after “a man who had creative vision and deep artistic expression.”
Shiloh shared with me a poem written by Richard P. Feynman that Ari (Arisia Vita) shared with her. It explores how we tend not to celebrate how creative science truly is:
“Our poets do not write about it;
Our artists do not try to portray ‘this remarkable thing’.
I don’t know why.
Is nobody inspired by our present picture of the universe?
The value of science remains unsung by singers…
This is not yet a scientific age.”
That quote got Shiloh thinking and she came up with the idea of the Da Vinci Award as an homage to the artistic that underlays science. She gave me two quotes from Leonardo Da Vinci to close with.
“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation… even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity. Nature never breaks her own laws.”
“To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
Please note: The Science Circle will go on Summer holiday in July and August. I too will wander the hills of my native Texas until September 1st when a new Hypothesis! column will come your way. Happy trails y’all.
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