Art and science

W: Dr. Huber, when did you first become interested in physics and music?
M: I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in physics. When I was a child, I was very curious about the world around me. For example, I always wondered why light behaves the way it does. I found it more fun to play with a prism than to play with the kids in the neighborhood. I wasn’ t very social, but I was really into figuring out how things worked. I got my own telescope when I was eight years old, and I loved to take it out at night and go star gazing. I would look at the planets and stars and wonder what was out there. When I was ten, my father bought me a book on the universe, and I just ate it up. In fact, I still have that book right here in my office.
    It was the same With music. I’ ve always had a natural ear for music , perfect pitch. Even as a young child, if I heard a song on the radio, I could go right to the piano and play it. When I heard a sound like the ring of a telephone, I could identify its pitch and play the note on the piano. However, I didn’t develop a serious interest in becoming a pianist until I was in college. I also seemed to do well in school in the visual arts like painting and drawing.
W: What commonality do you see between music and physics?
M: There is a common misconception that art and science are completely separated from each other. I think the distinction is artificial. In reality, art and science are not as mutually exclusive as one might assume. Solving a complicated mathematical problem, for example, can require the same degree of creative thinking as painting a landscape or writing a poem. I feel an indefinable tingle when I play the Schumann Concerto or dance the pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet. I get that the same tingle from theoretical physics.
    The beauty of art is readily apparent to most people. However, in the case of theoretical physics, the beauty is not nearly as accessible to the general public, but it is every bit as exciting. Nature seems to follow certain principles, very much the same as art does.
    It’s not uncommon for physicists to become accomplished musicians. Music theory is a very mathematical discipline. Relationships among various notes in classical harmony are based on simple mathematical relationships.
W: You have said that physics is beautiful. What makes it beautiful to you?
M: To me, it’ s incredible the way nature seems to work so perfectly. I think it is beautiful. I always tell my students on the first day of class. "If you like reading Sherlock Holmes detective stories, you’ll like doing physics problems. " Physics is about figuring things out—discovering how they work, just like a detective.
    A lot of people fear physics because they view it as a big complicated jumble of facts that have to be memorized. But that’ s not true. It’s an understanding of how nature works, how the various parts interact. One can view art and literature as the relationships and interactions of ideas. In the same way, physics studies the relationships and interactions of concepts. In other words, to me art and science fundamentally attempt to achieve the same objective—understanding of the world around us!
    The whole universe seems to follow some very basic principles as it evolves in with time, some of these principles including the Conservation of Energy and the Conservation of Angular Momentum. The conservation laws of physics are like non-interest bearing checking accounts. In the case of energy conservation, you can make energy deposits and energy withdrawals, but all the energy is accounted for.
    The rotation of objects is governed by a law called the Conservation of Angular Momentum, which applies to everything in the universe including the rotation of stars, the rotation of the planets and their orbits, the behavior of an electron in an atom, the spin of a figure skater, and the rotation of wheels on a truck. What it all comes down to in the end is that everything in the universe fits together like the pieces of a perfect puzzle. As Einstein said, "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.