THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IN A GLASS OF WINE

SIXTY SYMBOLS: Feynman Diagrams

2010-06-09T11:31:00.001-07:00

Lecture by Adrian Holme and Performance by Johnny Drain

2010-06-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

WORKE

2010-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Opening Night! The Whole Universe in A Glass of Wine, and some 'feyn' contributive photos sent in by Isabel White (last four!)

2010-06-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

The night before

2010-06-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Feynman, is a fine man! (Ode on a Flower)

2010-05-31T02:22:00.001-07:00

Richard Feynman on the appreciation of nature. Video is from 1981 BBC Interview. The interview is also the subject of Feynman's book The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.

Announcement: FEYNMAN DIAGRAM PRINT WORKSHOP!

2010-05-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Rosie will be running a print workshop in the early evening and on Saturday day so you can take home your very own Feynman diagram! Hurrah! 

Here, (for your viewing pleasure) are some examples of what they look like: 

Feynman Diagrams are much more complicated than they look, but they are an extraordinary example of a developed visual language. 

They are graphical representations that help denote a series of processes that occur in quantum mechanical or statistical field theory. They help to visually describe the transition of disturbances between particles and how energy and mass wiggle around. They are used to calculate rates for electromagnetic and      weak interaction particle processes. (Apologies to all the professionals out there who can define this more clearly than this.)

It's not possible for us to truly explain  any thing in quantum mechanics, we personally don't know enough, but we know that it is ultimately mind boggling and that the maths is insanely complicated (perhaps not as hard for Richard Feynman though). Its probably inappropriate to try and summaries something as immense as particle physics, nor would it be appropriate to assume we could learn or teach it all in a day, with out all doing hours of maths  necessary to really see how these quantities move around, but our intentions is to communicate how amazing it is. We want you to be interested and amazed.

May be try do some research into 'weak interactions' of your own if you like, so you can get a better idea of how wonderful and helpful these are.  

This link will take you to the MIT open course website page for Physics: 

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physics-IFall1999/VideoLectures/index.htm

And this link will show you more about what the symbols of Feyman Diagrams mean: http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/feynman.html

This one shows us what happens when matter and antimatter (an electron and a positron for example)  meet each other. They  momentarily convert in to energy (mass-less energy infact, photons- or LIGHT).

Flyer for exhibition

2010-05-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

The whole universe ALSO in a whole glass of Cider. Thank you to Kopparberg for their sponsorship (please enjoy responsibly)

http://www.findkopparberg.com/

The Whole Universe in a Glass of Wine PRESS RELEASE

2010-05-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IN A GLASS OF WINE is a poem by the physicist Richard Feynman. Through the use of ink, print, music, performance and film, this event reacts to his exquisite dissection of the Universe into physics, biology, geology, astronomy and psychology. 

A show created and curated by 

Jennifer Crouch http://thejenistempire.blogspot.com/
Penelope Klein http://binkum.blogspot.com/
Rosanne Eveleigh http://howthewaterfeelstothefishes.blogspot.com/
Natalie Kay-Thatcher http://www.nataliekaythatcher.blogspot.com/
Raine Allen-Miller http://raineallenmiller.blogspot.com/

Join us for a glass of wine (or more likely a glass of cider) and enjoy the metaphor, while examining the artwork and listening to the live music and lectures.

The festivities will take place at THE GALLERY IN REDCHURCH STREET on the 4th June 2010, begin at 6.30pm till 11:30pm  and will last only till the following evening. So don't miss your chance to visit! Full cosmic soundtrack provided on opening night.

Live music from JOHNNY AND THE CHEMISTS
(more to be confirmed)

Spoken word from ADRIAN HOLME and STEVEN SMYTH

Sponsored by Koppaberg Cider

The Whole Universe in a Glass of Wine: By Richard. P. Feynman

2010-05-19T09:39:00.000-07:00



A poet once said, "The whole universe is in a glass of wine."  We will
probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to
be understood.  But it is true that if we look at a glass of wine closely
enough we see the entire universe.  There are the things of physics: the
twisting liquid which evaporates depending on the wind and weather, the
reflections in the glass, and our imagination adds the atoms.  The glass is
a distillation of the earth's rocks, and in its composition we see the
secrets of the universe's age, and the evolution of stars.  What strange
array of chemicals are in the wine?  How did they come to be?  There are the
ferments, the enzymes, the substrates, and the products.  There in wine is
found the great generalization: all life is fermentation.  Nobody can
discover the chemistry of wine without discovering, as did Louis Pasteur, the
cause of much disease.  How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into
the consciousness that watches it!  If our small minds, for some
convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts --
physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on -- remember that
nature does not know it!  So let us put it all back together, not forgetting
ultimately what it is for.  Let it give us one more final pleasure: drink it
and forget it all!

    - Richard P. Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, v. 1, p. 3-10
      (This lecture is also one of the six lectures featured in a book &
      audio edition entitled "Six Easy Pieces")