Art and Science: Interacting Universes

Science needs public support, and therefore communicating science well to the wider society is paramount. On the other hand, the very essence of art is that it communicates ideas and invites interpretation. That is a fascinating convergence.In science, communication is done by scientists themselves, by popular-science writers, or by journalists. There have been exceptional communicators, such as the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988). On the other hand, a degree of distrust has existed, at least within some scientific communities, of “outsiders” who dare to speak about—or criticize—science. The issue might be that although artworks may comment on science, their perception or interpretation is not predictable. But then that is the essence of an open discourse, and neither scientific training nor a scientific mindset is geared to make the high cultural impact that the arts can achieve.In recent decades, the effective dissemination of messages related to the risks associated with a high-cholesterol diet, for instance, has been …