It must be one of the greatest mistakes ever made in the world of education that, at some point in the past, it was decided that at the age of 14 or 15 we should know whether we wanted to opt for science or the ‘arts’.
Having opted to drop all science at that stage of my life, it took me fifty years or more to realise just how fascinating science, and even maths, can be. Having teachers who inspire make all the difference of course and looking back , the arts subjects definitely scored there as far as I was concerned.
Reading The Strangest Man – the hidden life of Paul Dirac, quantum genius by Graham Farmelo, made me understand how people could get excited by science and just how beautiful a mathematical solution can be; how these subjects are, in a very different way, creative.
Watching Brian Cox talking about science subjects, using such poetic language, inspired what is called a ‘found’ poem.
Science Can be Beautiful
Water
carries ingredients of life.
Life
fine tunes earth’s basic chemistry
to do extraordinary things.
We
are of the earth
constructed from chemical elements
forged in the stars.
