Teaching art with physics
I teach physics to college art students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. You have published three issues of symmetry, and each time I've found something in it to point out to my students. From the first issue, the article "Extreme Neutrinos" was used by a student last semester for a paper he wrote. A current student, interested in how science influences art, was intrigued by the paintings of Dawn Meson reproduced in the second issue. And, finally, in an ongoing effort to show my students what science is really like, I'm having current students scan the "Quantum Diaries" blogs that were mentioned in the third issue. They are to look for something in a scientist's day that they find unexpected or surprising. I'm sure it will be interesting to see what they bring in.
It's really very nice to have a magazine that deals with contemporary events in science be appealing and accessible to the non-scientist. I'm sure I'll make more use of the past issues, and I'm looking forward to taking future ones to my students as well.
Lastly, I told my husband (a condensed matter physicist) that the high-energy physicists are way ahead of them in terms of demystifying the career. The CM physicists had better watch out or all the young people will want to study HEP!
Elizabeth Freeland, Chicago, IL
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