Dear All,
BBC4 has commissioned a series on The Beauty of Diagrams, the first episode
of which could require input from historians of science with an interest in
maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, etc..
The series is being made by Tern Television and more details of
exactly what/who is wanted are described in the below email.
I don't know if this sort of TV works counts as making an 'impact' but it
certainly sounds like an interesting programme.
Anyone interested in taking part should contact the programme
researcher, Hannah Farrell (
[log in to unmask]),
directly.
Please feel free to forward this request to any
friends/colleagues/alternative mailing lists.
Best wishes,
Paula
Gould
BSHS Communications Secretary
www.paulathewriter.com
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:57 PM
Subject: BBC 'Diagrams' series contact enquiry
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you with regard to a BBC4
series we are currently producing called The Beauty of
Diagrams. I am looking to find someone who may be interested in our first
episode on pictures of science - graphs, charts and diagrams. I was wondering
whether you could recommend anyone who may be interested in participating, or if
you could circulate this message among your members.
The series will look
at diagrams both as scientific concepts and as artistic objects which have
lingered in the mind as iconic images, sometimes for centuries. Two
examples are Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man drawing and the Crick &
Watson sketch/model of the structure of DNA.
Our first
episode will look at graphical statistics/visualisation, which by representing
complex statistics through pattern have revolutionised our understanding of
data. We will look at the history of graphs - hailed as the
greatest mathematical inventions of all time, asking who invented them and
why?
We will be looking at the contributions to graphics made by figures
such as Nicole Oresme, William Playfair, Florence Nightingale and Leon Lalanne.
We will also be looking at modern day science, showing that graphs
still play a key role, moving many sciences on from the qualitative collections
of data towards an easily analysable form. Would you say a good example of this
is the hockey stick curve representing temperature changes over the last
millennia which has come to be a call to arms for environmental campaigners?
Finally we would like to look at artists who have have taken graphs as their
inspiration - stimulating a pattern-seeking attitude to data.
If any of your members work within this area of expertise,
we would love to contact them.
Many thanks,
Hannah Farrell
--
Hannah Farrell
Researcher
Tern Television
1st
Floor Cotton Court
38-42 Waring
Street
Belfast
BT12ED