Satisfying Curiosity ...

[Dave Monroe]

Satisfying curiosity both in the stars and ourselves
October 14, 2004


Far from being opposites, science and art draw on the
same creative forces, writes Jem Finer.

[...]

A glance at the shelves of new popular science books
will reveal Mauve, the story of a chemist, William
Perkin, who, while attempting the synthesis of quinine
from coal tar in the mid-19th century, derived aniline
purple, the first synthetic organic dye.

The colour mauve became fashionable, made Perkin a
fortune, spawned the synthetic chemical industry and
started a chain of events that led to rocket science.

In the fiction section, this serendipitous discovery
and its progeny appear woven into Thomas Pynchon's
Gravity's Rainbow, a meeting of art, philosophy, myth
and science manifesting as literature....

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/13/1097607297092.html



		
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