Great stuff. Does understanding the physics diminish the sense of wonder (as you ask at the start)? Not for me, and not for my go-to guy for this kind of stuff, Carl Sagan: "For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
I put in those Maxwell's Equations not just because he's a good Galloway local but because with the serious A level / undergrad physics to understand them they are absolutely wonder inspiring.
Science enhances wonder, but only if we resist allowing it to enframe us. Even when we can explain the Spectre through scientific principles, this should not diminish our first hand human experience of its beauty or its symbolic resonance. On the contrary, the scientific explanation itself can inspire wonder, as it reveals the profound, unchanging laws of the universe through a different symbolic language. Both forms of symbol and consequent wonder draw us to consider the atemporal aspects of Being, and the Ground upon which it, and we, depend.
I am too foggy this morning to hazard much of an intelligible comment (perhaps our minds resemble the sky and its apparitions in many ways), but at one time or another in my many years in the mountains I've seen most of these optical presentations and while the scientist side of me appreciated, in part, of what was going on, that understanding always followed an initial sense of wonder and delight.
Well, I was definitely here for the rainbow; but the whole mountain/spectre thing was *fascinating*. Think there's definitely a Gothic/Romantic bildungsroman lurking in there somewhere...
Sorrows of Young Werther, but with witches. In the style of Anne Radcliffe (who was a bit of a mountain climber too.) Could be fun. If one had five years spare to write it...
A-level physics, you say though it seems I have obviously forgotten mine! But fascinating anyway. Seen a few myself, and Whymper's vision has always intrigued me. Thanks.
Diffraction, interference, wave nature of light - central in the A Level syllabus back in the 1960s, may have changed since then. Whymper's vision: surprising how incorrect his memory of it was compared to any fogbow (or glory) of the real world. Unless the Taugwalders were right and it really was a ghostly emanation.
Wow! Thank you for bringing this experience to us! I was rather grumpy and sore after another tumble when I started reading... Imagining getting on the top of Ben Lomond and then that shot of the Highland tips really put a smile on my face!
I think that science is magic on its own! When I studied biotechnology, I thought I was so smart... Clearly, it wasn't the case, nor is it now! There is so much beauty and mystery in how the world operates; science is just notes of its music. I love both, listening to it and studying the notes! Both are beautiful and fascinating!
Well i suspect that when you studied biotechnology you probably were quite smart... I absolutely agree with you about the rainbow and Maxwell's Equations, both full of wonder.
Yes! And I also think that people misunderstand great scientists, thinking of them as boffins who could not be farther from art. I think great minds like Maxwell or later Feynman, had beautiful minds full of art and wonder!
Great stuff. Does understanding the physics diminish the sense of wonder (as you ask at the start)? Not for me, and not for my go-to guy for this kind of stuff, Carl Sagan: "For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
I put in those Maxwell's Equations not just because he's a good Galloway local but because with the serious A level / undergrad physics to understand them they are absolutely wonder inspiring.
They are indeed.
Science enhances wonder, but only if we resist allowing it to enframe us. Even when we can explain the Spectre through scientific principles, this should not diminish our first hand human experience of its beauty or its symbolic resonance. On the contrary, the scientific explanation itself can inspire wonder, as it reveals the profound, unchanging laws of the universe through a different symbolic language. Both forms of symbol and consequent wonder draw us to consider the atemporal aspects of Being, and the Ground upon which it, and we, depend.
Lordie! Wow! Bedazzling piece of work, Ronald!
I am too foggy this morning to hazard much of an intelligible comment (perhaps our minds resemble the sky and its apparitions in many ways), but at one time or another in my many years in the mountains I've seen most of these optical presentations and while the scientist side of me appreciated, in part, of what was going on, that understanding always followed an initial sense of wonder and delight.
A delightful post, Ronald.
Well, I was definitely here for the rainbow; but the whole mountain/spectre thing was *fascinating*. Think there's definitely a Gothic/Romantic bildungsroman lurking in there somewhere...
Sorrows of Young Werther, but with witches. In the style of Anne Radcliffe (who was a bit of a mountain climber too.) Could be fun. If one had five years spare to write it...
Slacker…!
A-level physics, you say though it seems I have obviously forgotten mine! But fascinating anyway. Seen a few myself, and Whymper's vision has always intrigued me. Thanks.
Diffraction, interference, wave nature of light - central in the A Level syllabus back in the 1960s, may have changed since then. Whymper's vision: surprising how incorrect his memory of it was compared to any fogbow (or glory) of the real world. Unless the Taugwalders were right and it really was a ghostly emanation.
Air like '...long-suffering youth-hostel soup.' Haha.
Fascinating! I'd never heard of a fogbow before.
I've only seen two fogbows in my whole life. About a dozen glories.
Excellent post. Thanks. Sadly I've seen only rainbows so far.
Well the Brocken spectre, glory and fogbow are all rarer than rainbows. But apart from that, the rainbow's the most spectacular of them all!
Wow! Thank you for bringing this experience to us! I was rather grumpy and sore after another tumble when I started reading... Imagining getting on the top of Ben Lomond and then that shot of the Highland tips really put a smile on my face!
I think that science is magic on its own! When I studied biotechnology, I thought I was so smart... Clearly, it wasn't the case, nor is it now! There is so much beauty and mystery in how the world operates; science is just notes of its music. I love both, listening to it and studying the notes! Both are beautiful and fascinating!
Well i suspect that when you studied biotechnology you probably were quite smart... I absolutely agree with you about the rainbow and Maxwell's Equations, both full of wonder.
Yes! And I also think that people misunderstand great scientists, thinking of them as boffins who could not be farther from art. I think great minds like Maxwell or later Feynman, had beautiful minds full of art and wonder!