TEDxCaltech - Dennis Callahan - A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Artist

Dennis Callahan is a third year graduate student in Materials Science at Caltech. His thesis is focused on exploring design limits for novel types of solar cells to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum cost and use of raw materials.  He has created many types of scientific art, and his images have twice consecutively won first place at Caltech's "Art of Science" competition. In his spare time Dennis is an amateur photographer and singer-songwriter. He also experiments with generative art, which is an art form at the intersection of abstract drawing and computer programming in which artistic works are created with a computer through the use of human designed algorithms.  One of his major interests and passions is the merging of science and art to help foster a greater widespread understanding of the purpose and importance of each of these typically distinct and under appreciated topics.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event: In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

On January 14, 2011, Caltech hosted TEDxCaltech, an exciting one-day event to honor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate, Caltech physics professor, iconoclast, visionary, and all-around "curious character." Visit TEDxCaltech.com for more details.

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  Science & Technology

[David Ung]

I LOVE the nod to Feynman. :) "where do we start? at the bottom. There's plenty of room there." In reference to Feynman's talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom."

[Emily Hamecher]

Forgive me, I'm just one of those dumb, out-of-date thinking scientists, but WTF does this screed even mean? We're out-of-date in our thinking because we might dare to think that some of our work has some aesthetic value? Maybe it would help to know the context of the TEDx event....it was all about Richard Feynman and his vision of science going forward into the next 50 years. He was a great appreciator of the aesthetics of the natural world.

[Qtown20]

This strikes me as a weird sort of nostalgic attempt to revive the aesthetic of Modernism, but this time in the realm of exclusive High-Technology, rather than the exclusive realm of High Art, which imploded way back in the 60s into self parody and postmodern institutional/economical 'criticism,' which is again now refining itself into an alter-modern exposé of sorts. In other words, is this an indication of how severely out of date the thinking of some scientists really is these days?