As time progresses, old scientific practices become
irrelevant and the paradigm shifts. The
emergence of nanotechnology has created an entirely new medium for both science
and art. Nanotechnology is the
manipulation of matter at an atomic or molecular level, a scale that is
obviously invisible to the naked eye. It
is hard to imagine that art can be incorporated in or can play a large role in
the part of the scientific sphere that requires elaborate technology to view.
The Scanning Tunneling Microscopes produces a 3D image by
scanning the sample using a needle that moves along the sample from a fixed
distance. The images that the scanning
tunneling microscopes and the scanning electron microscopes (SEM can create
images of samples at the nanoscale, but destroys the sample) produce are quite
striking.
Some people, including myself, think that the goal of art is
to explain to people a part of life that they don’t understand. Viewing art
allows people to see a different point of view; causes people to see what is
there but not easily perceived. Nanotechnology
is being used for almost every facet of modern life, but before this week I was
ignorant of the massive impact nanotechnology has on us. Nanotechnology, itself, is a form of art
because it reveals to us that there is an entire scale that exists that we
cannot see. What else exists and affects us but we cannot see it?
Feder, Barnaby J. "The Art of Nanotech." Bits. The
New York Times, 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 20 May 2015.
Gimzewski, Jim. Lecture. “Nanotech for Artists.” 19 May
2015.
Lilley, Maiken. Crystalline Wurtzite Zinc Oxide. Digital
image. Nova. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 May 2015.
Lilley, Maiken. Zinc Oxide Flowers. Digital image. Nova.
PBS, n.d. Web. 23 May 2015.
Rice, Brian. "What Is the Purpose of Making Art?"
About Home. About.com, n.d. Web. 23 May 2015.
Scanning Tunneling Microscope. Digital image.
Nanotechnology. Professor Vincenzo Balzini, n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.
"The Scanning Tunneling Microscope." Telescopes.
NobelPrize.org, n.d. Web. 22 May 2015.
"What Is Nanotechnology Used for Today?"
Introduction to Nanotechnology. N.p., 30 June 2009. Web. 21 May 2015.
Hi Melinda! I totally agree with you that before I would never imagine that Nano-tech has been changing our lives in such a great way. After Dr. Gimzewski’s lecture, I get to know the technology of The Scanning Tunneling Microscopes and how it enables us to perceive our nature in a totally different way. The viewing art does provide us with a easier and more efficient way to understand our body.
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