Blog 1, Mary Karlton and Zippy Connell, July 11, 2018
Oh My God Particle!
Mary Karlton: Over exotic brews and iced tea at the West End Tap Room and Kitchen, PhD student Joseph “Zippy” Connell and I enjoyed an animated discussion about his main area of research, namely how the omnipresent Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” gives mass to matter and what happens when it encounters dark matter. I feel that Zippy’s enquiry cuts to the core of existence and has enormous implications not only for the physical world as we know it but also for the evolution of our spiritual realities.
With his marker flying deftly over his portable white board, Zippy clearly and succinctly, using words and formulas, gave me a one-hour immersive class in the Standard Model of particle physics. Using the vivid language of his specialty—quarks, leptons, Fermions, Bosons, spin, color, symmetry, and asymmetry—he described how particles in the universe behave and interact. As a visual artist and writer, my mind was abuzz with ideas, metaphors, and imagery.
I’m looking forward to our next meeting at my studio, where we’ll be introducing the Muse of Physics to the Muse of Art. Fermion, meet Boson. Or is it the other way around? Stay tuned!
Zippy Connell:
It takes years to develop the mathematical machinery and physics jargon to work in particle physics. However, when explained directly, an artist, with a visual and allegorical mind, can pick up on patterns and curious features of the theories within a few hours. They rely on replacing complicated formulas and theorems with intuitive analogies and personifications. This act of replacing numbers for shapes, algebra for color, and logic for emotion can provide insight into the equations, give fresh meaning and memorability to the results, and produce a scaffolding for pleasing imagery.
My favorite part about meeting Mary Karlton was how she paused after hearing each new physics concept and imagined a parallel human interaction that simplified and familiarized the phenomenon. It is this train of thought that allows me to live in the novel of physics.
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