Giants of the Infinitesimal
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
The 21st century is at the beginning of a scientific revolution that will alter the world as radically as the industrial revolution of the 19th century. Whereas the latter rested on the control and engineering of macroscopic objects the new revolution will require the understanding and control of the nanoworld. Controlling nanocomponents lies at the heart of, for example, the clean harnessing of solar energy, the development of smart materials, and the realisation of entirely new concepts in computing. Thus, nanoscience and nanotechnology are buzzwords that are as rife on the academic campus as they are in industrial research laboratories. However, research in nanoscience and nanotechnology has been accompanied by public concerns and much debate has ensued. This debate is necessary and important but it has all but drowned out the sheer excitement, adventure and creativity of probing, understanding and, ultimately, controlling the nanoworld. This project will create an exhibition and public dialogue events that will introduce some of the most interesting and important concepts that drive the nanoworld to the public in a highly accessible and attractive way.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Rasmita Raval (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | Significant Public Engagement as outlined below: Creation of an Interactive Exhibition on Nanoscience entitled Giants of the Infinitesimal, which exhibited at The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and the Magna Centre, Sheffield. The hands-on exhibition arose from a very productive interaction between scientists and artists and enabled the Nanoworld and concepts in nanoscience to be explained to schoolchildren and the general public. In particular, the role of nanoscience in existing and future technologies was communicated to the general audience. As further advancement of this work, Artist Tom Grimsey collaborated with science writer, Peter Forbes, to produce a book entitled Nanoscience: Giants of the Infinitesimal, which uses simple language and beautiful illustrations to make the subject accessible to the general public. Reviews of the book are quoted in the narrative section. |
| Exploitation Route | Our grant demonstrates that a collaboration between arts and science is a highly successful way to create public engagement in science and to explain state-of-the-art scientific concepts to school children and the general public. |
| Sectors | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk |
| Description | This Public Engagement Grant enabled the following developments: Creation of an Interactive Exhibition on Nanoscience entitled Giants of the Infinitesimal, which exhibited at The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and the Magna Centre, Sheffield. The hands-on exhibition arose from a very productive interaction between scientists and artists and enabled the Nanoworld and state-of-the-art concepts in nanoscience to be explained to schoolchildren and the general public. In particular, the role of nanoscience in existing and future technologies was communicated to the general audience. Both exhibitions reached large audiences. As further advancement of this work, Artist Tom Grimsey collaborated with science writer, Peter Forbes, to produce a book entitled Nanoscience: Giants of the Infinitesimal, Papadakis 2014 ISBN 9781906506230. This book uses simple language and beautiful illustrations to make the subject accessible to the general public. Reviews of the book are quoted below: Mail Online Beauty in the detail: Stunning nanoscale images reveal incredible patterns that can be created by playing with cells, crystals and DNA. From the iridescence of butterfly wings to the intricacies of plankton, studying nature on a nanoscale could help scientists create machines as small as those inside a living cell. Now a new book, the 'Nanoscience: Giants of the Infinitesimal', has selected some of the best images from the field to reveal how nature's hidden beauty could be replicated by humans. The images chart how nanoscience has progressed over the past 50 years showing iconic research such as the smiley faces made from DNA and muscle cells of beef developed from stem cells. Read the full review on: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2715378/Beauty-Stunning-nanoscale-images-reveal-incredible-patterns-created-playing-cells-crystals-DNA.html#ixzz3D6VSsjZq By Ellie Zolfagharifard, Mail Online, 12 September 2014 Professor Mark Miodownik "Many have tried and failed to write engaging and compelling books about nanotechnology. Forbes and Grimsey succeed because they take the reader on a tour of the highlights, and in their company it is like visiting an exquisite grotto: compelling, mysterious and extremely beautiful. If you don't come away from this book feeling intellectually exhilarated, then you need to stay in more" Professor Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters and regular contributor to BBC2's Science Club. Nature 'Lucid text and visuals combine to dazzling effect in this introduction to nanotechnology' - Nature Physics World 'The nano world can be stunningly beautiful, and NanoScience: Giants of the Infinitesimal demonstrates this with more than 100 gorgeous images drawn from research across the discipline ... a good overview of the work that individual nano scientists are doing to explore this tiny, mesmerisingly beautiful world.' Physics World Chemistry World Any practising scientist or engineer, or a student of those subjects, should find this book inspiring because it brings together the latest achievements in the field, creating a real sense of the direction this research is taking. Furthermore, the authors often make interesting and sometimes surprising links between seemingly unconnected topics (for example, soap bubbles, zeolites and living cells) that may help to stimulate the readers to think outside the box in their own research. Read the full review on http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/09/nanoscience-giants-infinitesimal-forbes-grimsey Reviewed by Andrei Khlobystov |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Innovate UK |
| Amount | £668,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2016 |
| End | 02/2019 |
| Description | 'Giants of the Infinitesimal Lecture' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 'Giants of the Infinitesimal Lecture' Lecture by Tom Grimsey Manchester Metropolitan University 5 OCTOBER 2011 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk/goi-news.htm |
| Description | A public art activity for the "The Big Draw" held at the Whitworth Art Gallery 15 - 16 OCTOBER 2011 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A public art activity for the "The Big Draw" headed by artist Tom Grimsey, taking inspiration from the MOSI exhibition "Giants of the Infinitesimal". Participants worked with artists and scientists to organize millions of random dots into beautifully coherent molecular patterns. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk/goi-news.htm |
| Description | An evening event of Art meets Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Beauty in Science and Art' an leavening event to launch the 'Giants of Infinitesimal' Exhibition An evening event to launch the exhibition 'Giants of Infinitesimal' with speakers including the Artists and Nanoscientists who collaborated to create the exhibition. Public lectures given by: Guest speaker Peter Forbes - author of 'Dazzled and Deceived' - winner of the 2011 Warwick prize for writing. Exhibition artists: Tom Grimsey and Theo Kaccoufa. Exhibition scientists Prof. Rasmita Raval and Prof. Philip Moriarty followed by open discussion with input from Prof. Konstantin Novoselov, winner of the 2010 Physics Nobel Prize for his work on graphene at the University of Manchester. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk/goi-news.htm |
| Description | Interactive Public Exhibition on Nanoscience entitled: 'Giants of the Infinitesimal' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A consortium of artists and scientists created an interactive 'Giants of the Infinitesimal' exhibition on nanoscience for school children at KS4 and 5 levels. The 'Giants of the Infinitesimal' exhibition launched at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) on 6th October 2011 and was hosted there till 31 March 2012. Schools, children and members of the general public visited the exhibition during this period. The 'Giants of the Infinitesimal' Exhibition then transferred to the Magna Centre, Sheffield with a launch on the 5 May 2012 and was hosted there till 5 November 2012. The 'Giants of the Infinitesimal' exhibition attracted the following publicity: 'Small is beautiful, even when it's big', The Times Eureka Review, May 2012, Radio 4's You and Yours programme and local media interviewed Prof Philip Moriarty from the Science team, 2 Nov 2011 'Graphene Sculpture' The Mancunian, Manchester, 8 October 2011 'Sculptors bring nanoscience to life in new exhibition' Creative Boom, 12 October 2011 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012 |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk |
| Description | Launch of book ' NANOSCIENCE Giants of the Infinitesimal' By Peter Forbes and Tom Grimsey, 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Book Launch of "NANOSCIENCE: Giants of the Infinitesimal" By Peter Forbes and Tom Grimsey, 2014 (Papadakis 2014 | 192pp ISBN 9781906506230) on Tuesday, 3rd June 2014 at The Smith Centre, The Science Museum Entrance on Imperial College Road South Kensington London SW7 2DD |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/events/328088314006037/ |
| Description | Meet the Scientists events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 'Meet the Scientists' event on 22 OCTOBER 2011 at the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) and as Part of the Manchester Science Festival. This was a free hands-on event with science demonstrations and informal lectures by nano-scientists engaged with the "Giants of the Infinitesimal' exhibition. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012 |
| URL | http://giantsoftheinfinitesimal.co.uk/goi-news.htm |
| Description | Videos for STEMWORLD1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Rasmita Raval talks to Marcus Tomlinson about her work for STEMWORLD1 on 24th April 2012 These interviews formed part of Marcus's work towards the Primary Leaders Award for STEM 2012 and included three topics: Does Science Matter? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxryXNX3U4 What is Chirality? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEZZ8q1ki9c What is Surface Science? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X06HVdbQKw |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxryXNX3U4 |