Art and science: opposites or intertwined?

“The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin even, or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity"

- Mae Jemison

In today's lecture we considered the reasons why art and science are considered to be extremely different from one an other. The general consensus was that science is based on facts where as art is subjective and can take many different forms. I personally feel the arts and science are intertwined. In order to become a good artist an understanding of elements,light and primary colours are required,and in order to be a successful scientist an element of creativity and abstract thinking must take place. Thus they are often closely linked.

One strong example of science and the arts being used simultaneously can be seen in Leonardo di vinci who used his artistic skills to sketch what he found as he explored the depth of autonomy(O'Hanlon,2013). The most famous sketch being Vitruvian man (1490) as can be seen below:

Many of the sketches by Da Vinci are truly inspiring and illustrate the wonderment that creativity and science can result in.

Below is a Ted video. In this video Mae Jemison - the first African American woman to go in to space - discusses the importance of the sciences and the arts being used together.Science is not simply about being logical and the arts is not only about being creative.

References:
O'Hanlon,L (2013) Science and The Arts, Intertwined throughout History [online] available from http://www.howtolearn.com/2013/09/science-and-the-arts-intertwined-throughout-history/ [accessed on 22/2/14]