Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from Les Lauves (1904-06) [source]
Excerpt from a longer essay I am working on: In 1905, the painter Paul Cézanne was pushing himself relentlessly at the edges of perception, tossing torn paintings out the window in frustration (according to legend) and casting new depictions of space onto canvas with an unprecedented and hard-won level of abstraction. That year Einstein published three papers: one on Brownian Motion (providing a mathematical explanation for the apparently random, zig-zagging motion of particles suspended in liquid), one on special relativity (introducing the mind-bending physical law that the time and space are inextricably connected, such that the faster an object moves in space, the slower it moves in time), and a paper stating that light, previously considered exclusively as a wave, sometimes behaves like stream of discrete particles, tiny bundles or "quanta" of energy. The wave/particle theory laid the groundwork for quantum physics.
Howdy!
Yeah, one of my favorite conversation starters is asking folk if they can think of anybody having a better year than Einstein's 1905. Although some suggestions have come close (Wayne Gretzky's 81-82, etc.) I haven't been able to id anybody yet who has done better.
Hi Sally and Chris,
Einstein was 27 years old in 1905 and Cezanne, at age 66 was in the last year of his life. He died in October 1906. Picasso, who was 24 in 1905 had already blown all his teachers away gone through a blue period, a rose period and along with George Braques was about to invent cubism. I'd say he was having a pretty good year.
Bingo. Cezanne was up to something very special in his paintings. I wrote a major paper about him at University and
I came to the conclusion that he if you look closely you can see behind the objects he painted. Especially objects like
fruit and trees.
Merleau-Ponty in 'Cezanne' Doubt': wrote:
"[Cézanne] did not want to separate the stable things which we see and the shifting way in which they appear; he wanted to depict matter as it takes on form, the birth of order through spontaneous organization."
I better stop, my pipe is catching fire and ruining my tweed jacket.
In 1905 Tesla was building a giant tower on Long Island that was supposed to transmit power wirelessly across the Atlantic.
"The transmission of power without wires will very soon create an industrial revolution and such as the world has never seen before."
Talk about getting your hopes up. Things were not going well - he was running out of money and backers. The Electric bill was massive, ironic considering that the production of such electricity was done with equipment he invented. Years earlier in an experiment with radio waves Tesla convinced himself that he heard a uniform pulse coming from Mars which could only mean one thing: Martians. He knew that people would think he was nuts (or “even more nuts”), so the second purpose for the tower - to further communications with the Martians, was kept covert. The sad thing is he was right, he was hearing a pulse from Mars – just not from Martians, (and people would have thought he was even more nuts).
Tesla did not care for Einstein or his theories. He did not believe that splitting the atom would create power that was containable, and he hated the idea that light was as fast as you could go, he thought x-rays could go faster.
Tesla was really into the idea of ending all wars by making colossal kick ass doomsday devices. He even had an idea for using tidal waves as weapons by triggering explosions on the ocean floor. Tesla would have made the ultimate Bond villain.
I submit Tesla as having a particularly bad 1905.
As for good years, I think Jesus had some good ones in his early 20's when he'd gotten the "water into wine" thing perfected.
Jesus smoked Camels.
...but found them hard to keep lit.
Not if you dip them in mir first. See, that stuff turned out to be useful after all.
100 years doesn't seem that long ago! I like Cézanne to juxtapose Einstein because of the stretch towards abstraction. Also, while Picasso was remarkable I just don't like his paintings very much. Cézanne still turns my crank.
PS>I think Joester means "myrrh."
Not that it has any bearing on this discussion, but I like The Dream and the Lie of Franco.
right on! That's a very cool cartoon. I was gonna add the caveat that I do like Guernica a lot.
Guernica floats my boat.
yeah myrrh. I've got a cabinet full of it.
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Excerpt from a longer essay I am working on: In 1905, the painter Paul Cézanne was pushing himself relentlessly at the edges of perception, tossing torn paintings out the window in frustration (according to legend) and casting new depictions of space onto canvas with an unprecedented and hard-won level of abstraction. That year Einstein published three papers: one on Brownian Motion (providing a mathematical explanation for the apparently random, zig-zagging motion of particles suspended in liquid), one on special relativity (introducing the mind-bending physical law that the time and space are inextricably connected, such that the faster an object moves in space, the slower it moves in time), and a paper stating that light, previously considered exclusively as a wave, sometimes behaves like stream of discrete particles, tiny bundles or "quanta" of energy. The wave/particle theory laid the groundwork for quantum physics.
- sally mckay 1-20-2005 6:31 am
Howdy!
Yeah, one of my favorite conversation starters is asking folk if they can think of anybody having a better year than Einstein's 1905. Although some suggestions have come close (Wayne Gretzky's 81-82, etc.) I haven't been able to id anybody yet who has done better.
- Zeke (guest) 1-20-2005 7:37 am
Hi Sally and Chris,
Einstein was 27 years old in 1905 and Cezanne, at age 66 was in the last year of his life. He died in October 1906. Picasso, who was 24 in 1905 had already blown all his teachers away gone through a blue period, a rose period and along with George Braques was about to invent cubism. I'd say he was having a pretty good year.
- J at simpleposie (guest) 1-20-2005 7:52 pm
Bingo. Cezanne was up to something very special in his paintings. I wrote a major paper about him at University and
I came to the conclusion that he if you look closely you can see behind the objects he painted. Especially objects like
fruit and trees.
Merleau-Ponty in 'Cezanne' Doubt': wrote:
"[Cézanne] did not want to separate the stable things which we see and the shifting way in which they appear; he wanted to depict matter as it takes on form, the birth of order through spontaneous organization."
I better stop, my pipe is catching fire and ruining my tweed jacket.
- Tino (guest) 1-20-2005 8:18 pm
In 1905 Tesla was building a giant tower on Long Island that was supposed to transmit power wirelessly across the Atlantic.
"The transmission of power without wires will very soon create an industrial revolution and such as the world has never seen before."
Talk about getting your hopes up. Things were not going well - he was running out of money and backers. The Electric bill was massive, ironic considering that the production of such electricity was done with equipment he invented. Years earlier in an experiment with radio waves Tesla convinced himself that he heard a uniform pulse coming from Mars which could only mean one thing: Martians. He knew that people would think he was nuts (or “even more nuts”), so the second purpose for the tower - to further communications with the Martians, was kept covert. The sad thing is he was right, he was hearing a pulse from Mars – just not from Martians, (and people would have thought he was even more nuts).
Tesla did not care for Einstein or his theories. He did not believe that splitting the atom would create power that was containable, and he hated the idea that light was as fast as you could go, he thought x-rays could go faster.
Tesla was really into the idea of ending all wars by making colossal kick ass doomsday devices. He even had an idea for using tidal waves as weapons by triggering explosions on the ocean floor. Tesla would have made the ultimate Bond villain.
I submit Tesla as having a particularly bad 1905.
- joester 1-21-2005 12:04 am
As for good years, I think Jesus had some good ones in his early 20's when he'd gotten the "water into wine" thing perfected.
- joester 1-21-2005 12:10 am
Jesus smoked Camels.
- tino (guest) 1-21-2005 12:49 am
...but found them hard to keep lit.
- bill 1-21-2005 12:55 am
Not if you dip them in mir first. See, that stuff turned out to be useful after all.
- joester 1-21-2005 1:54 am
100 years doesn't seem that long ago! I like Cézanne to juxtapose Einstein because of the stretch towards abstraction. Also, while Picasso was remarkable I just don't like his paintings very much. Cézanne still turns my crank.
PS>I think Joester means "myrrh."
- sally mckay 1-23-2005 1:00 am
Not that it has any bearing on this discussion, but I like The Dream and the Lie of Franco.
- tom moody 1-23-2005 1:12 am
right on! That's a very cool cartoon. I was gonna add the caveat that I do like Guernica a lot.
- sally mckay 1-23-2005 1:22 am
Guernica floats my boat.
- thom (guest) 1-23-2005 4:01 am
yeah myrrh. I've got a cabinet full of it.
- joester 1-23-2005 10:05 am