Space and Art Copernicus, the renaissance astronomer, first developed a spatial model that placed the sun, in the middle of our solar system (Vesna). Centuries later, the “Space Race”, a political race that spurred the beginnings of modern space research, began during the Cold War, which paved the ways for further space-research programs such as NASA and Space-X (Vesna). Copernicus (Biography.com) From movies to novels, humans have had a history of fantasizing the unknowns of space for many years. Beyond fantasy, however, lies a much more realistic expression of art through space, called “space art” that has become more prevalent as our understanding of space has become more advanced in recent years. One example I found notable was Makrolab, the living telecommunications laboratory that emerged from artist Marko Pelijhan’s vision in 1994 (Holmes). This laboratory hosted crews of artists, writers, hackers, and scientists for research of climate, telecommunications,
Nanotechnology and Art History of Nanotechnology People have dreamt of the possibilities of nanotechnology before nanoscience even became a field (Gimzewski and Vesna). Although nanoparticles were, somewhat unknowingly, used in ancient times (example: Lycurgus Cup, 500AD) Richard Feynman was the first notable theorist for mechanical utilization of nanotechnology (Gimzewski). However, most of his work was simply theoretical, as nanoparticles were too small to be visible through microscopes (for reference, the average human hair thickness is around 50,000 nanometers) (Lovgren). That was until 1981, when scientists in Switzerland invented the Scanning Tunneling Microscope which allowed scientists, for the first time, to see topography of atoms that initially could not be seen (Lovgren). Lycurgus Cup (British Museum) Current Use of Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is more evident in our lives than the general public knows. Dr. Gimzewski stated that there are thousand