Art & Science:
Would Newton Recognize His 2nd Law?

Submitted by Abraham Tamir
atamir@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

In the Art & Science page to be presented in each issue of our Journal, the above interaction will be demonstrated in the following way: art will be used as a means to illustrate science, and science will be shown as instrumental in creating art. In this way, visual form will be given to scientific ideas, or as I define it, we will "demonstrate science through the 'eye' of art." Today, an age dominated by specialization, the Internet and computers, art and science have largely become disconnected as if one was dealing with different worlds. The present activity, hopefully, will reunite the two entities.

The present Art & Science page demonstrates how art can be instrumental in demonstrating one of the most important laws of nature—Newton's 2^nd Law of Motion. What is a law? A law is something already existing which merely lies hidden until the discoverer discloses it. This explains why God gave the world the Ten Commandments 2448 years after Creation, but waited 5403 years until Newton was born to discover His physical laws.

Sir Isaac Newton, 1643-1727, born in UK, was a mathematician and physicist, one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time. He was a premature infant not expected to live who showed no particular promise in his early years. He had a very unhappy childhood, which explains why he showed signs all through his life of a persecution mania. Surprisingly, Newton was highly productive only for eighteen years, 1669-1687, when a breakdown at an age of 51 ended his scientific work. He then became a highly paid government official in London with little further interest in mathematical research. Newton never married, but was at his happiest in the role of patron to younger scientists while from 1703 he served as a tyrannical president of the Royal Society. He was knighted in 1705.

Newton's contributions to science included the modern laws of optics, the development of calculus, the Newtonian telescope, and his law of cooling. However, the most important discoveries were his three laws of motion and the universal law of gravitation which sufficed to regulate the cosmos, but only, as Newton believed, with the help of God. Legend has it that seeing an apple dropping from a tree gave Newton the idea that the same force that keeps us bound to the Earth also controls the motion of planets and stars. Newton's theories for determining the motion of bodies travelling at ordinary speeds created among scientists a peaceful and optimistic climate for about 250 years. However, when Einstein in 1905 proposed the theory of relativity—where mass, length and time were no longer unchangeable magnitudes but dependent on their speed—as an alternative to Newton's theory, the world was shocked!

Looking at Newton's equations F = ma and F = m₁m₂/r² reveals how aesthetic they are. And indeed, many scientists expressed their thoughts about aesthetics in science (Rieser, 1972). Einstein said that "[b]eauty is the first test and threre is no place in the world for ugly mathematics" while according to Dirac "[b]eauty in equations is more important than their agreement with experiments."

We focus now our attention on Newton's 2^nd Law. The law is illustrated on the back cover of the Journal as a body attracted solely by gravitational force, namely, F = mg. However, a deeper analysis of each of the three pictures comprising the law is also very interesting, as follows.

Force (F), a push or pull exerted on an object, is demonstrated by Sisyphus pushing a heavy boulder. "Sisyphus" was painted by Franz von Stuck (1863-1928), who was born in Lower Bavaria and talented with a sensuous power to communicate through colours and forms and whose work was sometimes decorative and sometimes sculptural. The mythological figure of Sisyphus is one of the most well-known penitents of the underworld. The god's punishment for his hubris is to push a heavy boulder up a mountain, down which it always rolls back after reaching the summit. Observing Sisyphus trying to push the boulder gives the beholder a strong impression that the boulder is hardly moving. In other words, the acceleration a = F/m approaches zero, since according to the visual demonstration, F > 0 and m >> 0.

Mass (m), a measure of how much material is in an object, is demonstrated by Rafi Carasso in his astounding sculpture "Lady with Basket." Carasso is a doctor of medicine, a practicing psychologist and sculptor born in Israel in 1945. Although the upper part of the woman looks normal, it is her lower part which gives the observer a strong sensation of a high mass. The standing lady also demonstrates Newton's 3^rd law, where the force exerted by the lady on the floor is balanced by an identical force exerted on the sole of her foot by the floor.

And finally, the gravity acceleration (g) is beautifully demonstrated by Fernando Botero in his painting "Woman Falling from a Balcony." Botero, a painter and sculptor, was born in 1932 in Medellin, Columbia. Botero, one of today's preeminent artists, is marked by unique qualities and a distinct figurative style which includes a wide repertoire of themes such as self-portraits, nudes, lovers, bullfights, nuns, prostitutes and saints. Influenced by the monumental quality of the figures of Giotto, Ingres and Rivera, Botero strives to create sensuality through form. A closer examination of his picture brings us to the conclusion that it represents Newton's 2^nd law for free fall under the force of gravity, i.e., a = g.

We return to the question posed in the title, would Newton recognize his 2^nd Law by applying "science through the 'eye' of art"? The answer is probably yes, bearing in mind his fascinating taste for aesthetics, an important cornerstone of art, which is manifested in his beautiful equations, in addition to his genius brain.

Thanks for reproduction permission are due to Benedikt Taschen Verlag Publication for "Sisyphus," to the Marlborough Gallery, New York for "Woman Falling from a Balcony," and to Professor Carasso for "Lady with Basket."