They often separate people, depending on their natural inclination, into science-oriented and artistically gifted. They talk about one half of our brain to rule all logic and the other – artistic abilities. Yet, just like there is an area in the brain where these two seemingly opposites meet and intertwine, science and art meld in life, as well. These is what I was thinking reading the two articles that explored had art and science are different and how they are alike. “Art of science” and “science of art” – these expressions are often used by journalists and rightfully so because just like art contains elements of science do does science contains elements of art. As spontaneous as art may seem, it uses methods, often scientific, as well as employs science directly. Take the recent Rain exhibit at MoMa as an example where the art installation was designed to use censors to allow visitors to dance in the rain without getting wet.  Similarly, as methodical as the science is, it often requires element of creativity and spontaneity in order to achieve a scientific breakthrough. And with modern equipment, it is not unusual to have exhibitions of scientific images, presented to be viewed as art. Both art and science have moral implications – just like almost every artistic work makes us think about right and wrong, so do scientific achievements (take stem cell research and cloning for example). These parallels between art and science are logical since they both help us explore and understand our world and our place in it.

When I think of synthesis of science and art in my life, figure skating comes to mind immediately. While competing as a figure skater, I had a chance to combine science and art during all of my training sessions. This is a highly technical sport that requires very precise coordination on every element of competitive program while conveying a story at the same time. It employs a lot of physics – aero-dynamics, in particular. For example, in order to execute a multi-rotation jump, the skater pushes off the ice, crosses the arms on the chest to make the body as aero-dynamically suitable as possible to carry the energy into the jump revolutions, and then stretches the arms in order to stop the rotation when the desired number of revolutions is completed. The same is true about the spins. A lot of scientific research goes into the design of equipment – boots and blades. To the uninitiated spectator, figure skating may look like artistic dance on ice, but every move uses strict physics principles, thoroughly designed by a choreographer, and the skaters’ falls are result of mistakes in applying those principles.