Arts in the News: Incorporating humanities, arts, crafts, and design into curricula makes better scientists
March 20, 2019
From Science Magazine‘s blog:
“If you’ve ever had a medical procedure, chances are you benefited from the arts. The stethoscope was invented by a French flautist/physician named René Laennec who recorded his first observations of heart sounds in musical notation. The suturing techniques used for organ transplants were adapted from lacemaking by another Frenchman, Nobel laureate Alexis Carrel. The methods (and some of the tools) required to perform the first open-heart surgeries were invented by an African-American innovator named Vivien Thomas, whose formal training was as a master carpenter.
But perhaps you’re more of a technology lover. The idea of instantaneous electronic communication was the invention of one of America’s most famous artists, Samuel Morse, who built his first telegraph on a canvas stretcher. Actress Hedy Lamarr collaborated with the avant-garde composer George Antheil to invent modern encryption of electronic messages. Even the electronic chips that run our phones and computers are fabricated using artistic inventions: etching, silk-screen printing, and photolithography.”