Science and the Beauty of Understanding

First Subtopic: Sensory Beauty in Science

Many scientists find beauty in the objects and phenomena they study, from cells to stars. This sensory beauty is often what draws people to science.

"I personally think that a pollinator visiting a flower... is one of the most beautiful things in nature, which is why I study pollination." - A UK biologist

Second Subtopic: Useful Beauty in Science

Useful beauty involves treating aesthetic properties such as simplicity and symmetry as guides to truth.

"In fundamental physics, a beautiful or elegant theory is more likely to be correct than a theory that is inelegant." - Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize-winning physicist

Third Subtopic: The Beauty of Understanding

The most prevalent and important type of beauty in science is the beauty of understanding.

"It is recognising this is what's going on. There's a leap to the truth... that represents the real thing that's there, the real thing that's going on." - A US biologist

"Once one considers, with Dewey, aesthetic experience as a potential latent in any fragmented experience... one can see that science enables aesthetic experience through the integration of seemingly disparate observations and ideas in moments of understanding."

Fourth Subtopic: The Importance of Beauty in Science

The beauty of understanding helps scientists persist through challenges and motivates them in their careers.

"Beauty... helped him persevere."

"Making the beauty of understanding central to public conversations about science will draw much-needed attention to questions of how institutions can better support and leverage scientists' motivating passion."

Fifth Subtopic: Reconnecting with Beauty in Science

By centring the beauty of understanding in public discourse, we can engage youth and dispel misconceptions about science.

"Physicists are artists who can't draw." - A physicist to a young girl

"Who else might become a scientist if only they, like Tricia, were shown the beauty of understanding that science offers?"