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UCLA Meteorite Gallery Looking at the variety of meteorites at the UCLA meteorite gallery helped me better understand the idea of two cultures, and how science and art can be intertwined in every aspect of sciences, even in geology. It showed me how art can be found in the elements, in space, and even in sciences we may not be familiar with. The first picture shows me with a complete, individual 357 pound iron meteorite.  The second picture shows the Old Woman iron meteorite, which is the second largest meteorite from the United States. I  I found it interesting how these geological artifacts appear like sculptures or pieces in an art museum, with so much history and meaning behind it and its discovery. Old Woman Iron Meteorite Me with a 357 pound meteorite! One of my favorite parts of the gallery came from the area that focused on the differences in the inclusions of pieces of iron meteorites, which are insoluble substances in the metal that crea...

MedTech and Art The human body is a source of intrigue for almost everyone, not just surgeons and biologists. It is fascinating to be able to, with the invention of technologies like MRIs, x-rays, and CAT scans, look inside your own body and see what forces are behind both the simplest of tasks and the most complicated skills. One of my personal experiences with medical technology came recently, when I went to get an MRI scan on my elbow injury. Being able to see all the tendons, ligaments, and muscles in detail made me think of The Visible Human Project, which was a gallery of cross-sectional pictures of the human body. Emily Watson’s jewelry based on the human body is another example of how humans have become a source of inspiration for artists. The Visible Human Project Emily Watson's Jewelry It is interesting to see how the fascination with the human body and medical science has evolved into art and popular culture. For example, movies like Roboco...

Robotics & Art Machines, and the industrialization of machines integrated the idea of “robotics” and mechanization into society. The Imitation Game is a movie based on the story of Alan Turing and the machine that broke the German Enigma code. This is just one example of a movie influenced by industrialization and the shift in ideology towards machines. The importance of machinery in society, as well as its development and high technological abilities became central themes and topics in art and film. The Imitation Game Mass production changed the way what we live our lives. Gutenburg’s movable metal type, to the printing press, to the modern digital book, all impacted the way scholars do research and the amount of knowledge accessible to the public, as well as the ability to share a writer’s work much more easily. This week’s lecture videos and the reading of Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” gave me a special interest in th...

Math and Art  The intersection of mathematics and art is one that we don’t always think about or even notice. However, this week’s lecture about the development of mathematics in relation to art opened my eyes to how the two influence each other on a deeper level. Leonardo da Vinci is an artist that utilized mathematics heavily in his art. The concepts of perspective and lines are prevalent in The Last Supper, and the golden ratio was used in the Mona Lisa , which means that the lines are divided so that the ratio of the smaller to larger part is the same as the ratio of the larger part to the whole. I discovered one of my favorite pieces of art from this week in “The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher.” In the 1948 engraving Stars, Escher incorporates chameleons within mathematical/geometric shapes, forcing the viewer to take a different perspective on what art can be along with it means to be an artist. Stars , 1948 Hyperbolic Crochet Although math and art...

Two Cultures Growing up, I had always found myself struggling with, although I didn’t know it yet, C.P. Snow's idea of two cultures. I could never decide whether I was more inclined towards studying math and natural sciences, or the humanities. I had also never considered myself a particularly “creative” mind, but that was before I began to realize that creativity has multiple meanings. However, I had never considered that the reason I thought that was due to the segregated education system. As someone that takes mostly math and science based classes here at UCLA, I noticed after watching the lectures how I’m almost always on the south side of campus, whereas my friends taking more humanities and art based classes spend more time on the north side. This split of UCLA's campus shows how the education system has normalized stereotyping students based on areas of study and perceived strengths, instead of attempting to integrate the two cultures of natural science and humani...