Art and science: Intersections of art and science through time and paths forward.

EMBO Reports (2019) 20: e47061[OpenUrl][1][FREE Full Text][2]In the 19th century, the Spanish neurologist and pathologist Santiago Ramon y Cajal studied brain tissue and cells of the nervous system through a microscope. His observations not only led to important scientific discoveries, which eventually won him a Nobel Prize, but also to sketches that would adorn both the pages of textbooks and the walls of New York art galleries. The medieval mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, once pondered a puzzle about an idealized rabbit population. His solution was an eponymous sequence of numbers that are now widely found in dentistry to photography and music composition. Ramon y Cajal and Fibonacci were simultaneously impactful to science and art. History is rife with many more examples of scientists who were also artists and who have contributed to both science and art in unique and often unexpected ways.u003e Although artists and scientists are both driven to observe and create, they largely reside in different cultural spheres…Today, the relationship between art and science in our society is more complex: Although artists and scientists are both driven to observe and create, they largely reside in different cultural spheres—sometimes brought together serendipitously, other times intentionally. It is impossible to generalize relationships between art and science since neither is a fully defined nor homogenous category [1]. Instead, we present vignettes on the historical and contemporary relationship between visual art and science, and offer perspectives on the connection between the two with respect to their inputs (tools and processes) and their outputs (objects and communication of ideas). Finally, we propose ideas for how our society can cultivate these relationships and what might be gained from it.Art and science have coexisted, often indistinguishable from each other, across time and space. A wealth of … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DEMBO%2BReports%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.15252%252Fembr.201847061%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F30591523%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/ijlink?linkType=FULLu0026journalCode=emboru0026resid=20/2/e47061u0026atom=%2Fembor%2F20%2F2%2Fe47061.atom