JISCMail - AACORN Archives

I'd like to nominate one of our hard working, self sacrificing, and generally super all rounder webmasters to Aacorn--17 year old Ross Churchley, John's son. I'm not sure how many of you know it, but Ross has provided much of the technical know-how and programming for our website. He's also done a lot with the graphic design and the overall organizational design. Without Ross' efforts, there would be a mere shadow of a site (or probably none at all).

Here is a little bit of a bio that Ross sent me (which I think is really wonderful):

"I am an a student of theoretical physics and I hope to one day be a researcher and professor in the subject. I am also an amateur digital photographer, graphics and web designer, and a tinkerer in general. This year I am attending high school in Kamloops as well as some university courses part-time at Thompson Rivers University.
My scientific experience is largely aesthetic: to me, the math of physics is just another art form, a way of expressing and exploring the beauty of the universe. One of my best examples of physics as an art is that of mixing coloured liquids in a glass jar. The artist might take a deep look the jar and be incredibly moved by the swirls and colours of the mingling waters; he or she would want to express this feeling, and try to capture the colours and light in a painting, perhaps, or the shape and movement of the liquids in a form of dance. In the same way, the physicist looks at the jar and tries to express the beauty in his or her own way, trying to capture the complexity of the fluids in a similar cascade of equations, while at the same time expressing its underlying simplicity. Leaves blowing in the wind, the sight of the northern lights on a dark night... almost every phenomena in the universe is an aesthetic experience waiting to happen to a scientist, like it is with any other artist.

Perhaps these two viewpoints, art and science, could together also make contributions to the study of organizations and of the phenomena of human interaction. Like the liquids in the jar, people and relationships between people have many different facets, and many different angles from which they can be viewed. The evolution of both systems, jar and organization, are nearly impossible to predict beforehand, but with the help of both creative realms, art and science, they can be interpreted and explored."