Black Holes and a New Aesthetics of Science
Name of applicant
Emilie Skulberg
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
University of Amsterdam
Amount
DKK 1,319,827
Year
2023
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
Aesthetics in science is not just a question of colour choices and outreach. Theories, models, and images in science can be appreciated in ways informed by scientific knowledge, and aesthetics can be part of arguments that objects of study in science exist or behave in particular ways. This project explores the aesthetics of research on topics such as cosmic dust, dark matter, and black holes.
Why?
While letters between scientists are often preserved in archives, research in the digital age, with exchanges in settings such as email and Slack, offers challenges with access for future historians. This project documents and studies events in physics and astronomy as they occur, and also provides a database with sources as well as oral history interviews.
How?
Historians often study past events through sources such as letters, notes, and publications. With recent events, historians and other researchers can also document developments such as those in science by observing and documenting scientific work and interviewing researchers. These oral history sources are useful not just for current study but they can be preserved for future historians.