Quantcast
Channel: Pathways to Science » Physics Phirst!
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 7

Icarus at the Edge of Science

0
0

An exciting evening with physicist Brian Greene! The performance of “Icarus at the Edge of Time”, involving a full orchestra, music by Philip Glass, narrator Levar Burton, story by Greene, and a film by Al + Al, took flight in Reverend Ike’s monumental United Palace Church. A suitable setting, it turned out, for the story of a boy scientist who goes against authority, disobeying his father to explore the edges of a Black Hole.

I won’t give away the ending, but, Greene puts an interesting twist on the classical myth – all in the service of an immersive story that gets the physics really right while also capturing a youth’s spirit of daring and willingness to test the limits. Conductor Brad Lubman and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s pounded out Glass’ pulsing, high-tension score, filling the ornate Palace with sound, while the images of kayakers paddling uselessly as they get pulled down an ever-steeper waterfall, a black hole gobbling up everything around it, a boys’ image shifting toward the red, as the pull of gravity increases, slowing down time until the boy appears to turn to stone.

The kids loved it, greeting Greene’s warm-up talk and videos with rock-star screams, Was all the physics exactly right? Did Greene really solve Einstein’s relativistic field equations to find out how a boy getting closer and closer to a Black Hole would appear to his father observing from outside? I doubt it, but it didn’t matter – the physics was front and center – the boy would appear red-shifted and distorted and slowed-down; the physics became a real part of the story in a natural way, and the visualizations on the screen got the essential abstract ideas across in a powerful, unforgettable way.

Were some of the details neglected? Were we simply being asked to believe in it because of Greene’s authority? Of course – but the big ideas were linked together and packaged in a way that was interesting and convincing, with a coherent and easy-to-understand narrative. I enjoyed it; and the kids I asked about it afterward said they liked it because of the music and had indeed learned what a Black Hole was.

Religious-school kids from the Bronx were talking after the show out on Broadway about a kid who challenged authority and did something very special using his brain. They had learned about a new object called a Black Hole. Is this enough? Is this going to make science understandable? Not really – it’s just a story, it can end up as a fairy tale just like all the others. Is a massive dose of more multimedia like this enough? No – not even close.

It’s a really good effort, but it and all the multimedia in the Universe isn’t going to make any difference in the classroom unless we can find a way to get more teachers who really understand science and who know how to inspire kids in those classrooms. But Greene made a point and made it well – science is important – science is exciting – it’s fun using your brain, and he got a lot of people interested and excited. We need more of that – LOTS more of that!


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 7

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images