A world in a grain of sand

The Science and Poetry of Scale

The Symposium in Science and Literature series aims to “open lines of communication among thinkers in various fields [the sciences, arts and humanities] around scientific issues influencing all the fields,” according to the symposium Web site.

Katharine Coles – symposium co-organizer, Utah’s poet laureate, and professor of English at the University of Utah – says this year’s symposium will focus on the influence of scale.

“The issue is, how does where you are standing and what you are looking at influence your perception of reality"” she says. “This issue remains regardless of whether you are examining physics, biology, literature, architecture or philosophy.”

University of Michigan poet Linda Gregerson. Click here for more information.

“Look at the vast and enormous space of the universe through the eyes of an astronomer and you see the way stars and planets use the force of gravity to interact with each other,” says Coles. “Look through the eyes of a particle physicist and you see the universe at a much smaller level. Physicists have discovered particles we never knew existed … and have discovered that at these very small scales the universe behaves much differently than it does when you are looking at very large bodies.”

Coles says size scale is “an issue even in your everyday life. When you forget to turn off a light switch there may be a small individual consequence, but when millions of us fail to turn off the light switch, this may result in tremendous global problems in pollution and climate.”

She adds that the issue of scale “isn’t just about science. Poetry enables us to comprehend the way in which scales interact with each other and inform each other.”

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-- William Blake, from “Auguries of Innocence”

Panel discussions, tours and space traveler Jake Garn

In addition to the keynote lectures, two panel discussions are scheduled for 9:30-10:45 a.m. Friday, Feb 22:

• “The Lens: The Infinite and the Infinitesimal,” in the Utah Museum of Natural History, room 319, with University of Utah faculty members Andrew Franta, associate professor of English; Jordan Gerton, assistant professor of physics; and Jessica Straley, assistant professor of English; and moderated by Fred Adler co-organizer and professor of biology and mathematics.