South to the Canary Islands

A flat calm sea at sunset looking over the fo’c'sle of the Polarstern.

On the left of the prow is a yellow post. This I learnt later is a work of art symbolising something or other. It was lost on most people I spoke to but an interesting nod to art which I think is a stronger aspect of continental European science than in the UK. Scientists in the UK tend to stick to the science and regard art as a kind of add on that might help them illustrate their work.

This difference has long been debated in the arts and social sciences. The relationship of art to science has changed a lot since Leonardo’s time where the distinction was very blurred. The big separation came at the end of the 18th century when science and technology were seen to be of growing economic importance and which looked to logic, rational argument and empirical description for their power. Art began to be seen as a quite separate venture which explored the decorative as well as the poetic aspects of life.

The wedge was driven in harder and harder through the 19th century and reached a kind of climax in 1959 in the UK when novelist and technologist C.P. Snow gave his famous ‘Two Cultures’ lecture at Oxford University. He criticised writers for being ignorant of science and scientists and technologists for being ignorant of the arts. He called for a fundamental change in our educations system to address what he saw as a dangerous weakness in our culture and the government in the early 70s did acknowledge this and make some changes in schooling but less so in higher education. Today there are many scientists interested in all aspects of artistic culture and some even collaborate with artists such as Prof John Woodward and Prof Karen Wiltshire collaborating with me in my MPhil research.