Going With The Flow

The trajectories of 100,000 computer-generated electrons surge across Eric J. Heller’s canvas. The Harvard physics and chemistry professor employs algorithms based on classical and quantum mechanics to chart the subatomic particles’ paths; he then feeds the resulting grayscale image into Photoshop and adds flourishes of color and depth. Although these aesthetic enhancements aren’t driven by […]

The trajectories of 100,000 computer-generated electrons surge across Eric J. Heller's canvas. The Harvard physics and chemistry professor employs algorithms based on classical and quantum mechanics to chart the subatomic particles' paths; he then feeds the resulting grayscale image into Photoshop and adds flourishes of color and depth. Although these aesthetic enhancements aren't driven by science, they have nonetheless informed Heller's research in quantum mechanics, scattering theory, and qualitative dynamics. "I was making plots for artistic purposes and noticed a branching phenomenon that we had missed, which led to further development of the phase-space flow theory of electrons." Heller's work is available online at www.ericjhellergallery.com.

ELECTRIC WORD

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Going With The Flow