Ben won the Subatomic Zone in November 2011, here’s where his £500 went:
Winning I’m A Scientist the first time was amazing but the second time has really put the icing on the cake! I have been telling my peers that it is the best crash course in science communication you can get with or without leaving your desk.
I have used my money to fund my travel and involvement in art-science collaborations across London and most importantly the Jiggling Atoms project. Particle physics and illustration collided in the Jiggling Atoms project; the brainchild of artist Natalie Kay-Thatcher. Over six months 25 dedicated artists attended lectures and seminars about physics! They were set the task of visually interpreting aspects of the often-viewed incomprehensible world of particle physics.
A series of four lectures from co-organisers Malte Oppermann and Jennifer Crouch transported the artists from everyday experience and thinking into the strange realm of the atom and scientific methodology. They learnt of the guiding forces and lumpy discrete nature of Nature. Then in a final lecture from myself we went deeper down the rabbit hole, smaller than the atom to explore particles.
The Jiggling Atoms team, including Ben on the far right. Image by Jiggling Atoms
Once enthused and educated about all things science; the artists were given five short briefs. Each brief explored different aspects of particle physics; quantum weirdness, the space between particles, ‘seeing’ particles with machines, symmetries and the rules of Nature, and the very early history of the Universe. Various methods of interpretation were also suggested; a toy or game, image or series of images, object, comic strip, or info-graphic. While ideas were taking seed a number of seminars and e-mail conversations followed. From these discussions the briefs took on new and exciting dimensions as artists and scientists’ explored ideas of representing the subject matter off brief.
We hosted an exhibition of the work produced and array of workshops and talks between 1st-7th October 2012. But the project does not stop there! Jiggling Atoms is an idea more than a one off project and it continues today through the brilliant www.jigglingatoms.org website designed by artistic director Rosie Eveleigh. We hope to expand the activities of Jiggling Atoms in the near future – watch this space!
