THOUGHTS AND MODELS

Since the time of Galileo, physicists have largely abandoned the Aristotelian tradition of observation of natural phenomena as the basis of science in favor of experimentation - the construction of constrained conditions which best reveal the ideal principles which govern the physical world.

Models are abstractions, which permit scientists to focus their attention on the essential core of an otherwise complex problem.

When a pebble falls in water, ripples spread, until they dissipate and the pond is still, again. A solitary wave, such as a tidal wave, propagates without dispersing. The pendulum array sculpture shown here is a model of non-linear wave motion. A 360° twist is a solitary wave - it can move but it cannot be undone.