Time traveller’s guide to a Clockwork Universe_0375
This steampunk style sculpture is the brainchild of UK artist, Tim Wetherell. On one level it represents a Newtonian model of the universe operating as a gigantic machine in accordance with fixed physical laws. But it is also a reference to the shortcomings of that model—shortcomings which eventually led Einstein to develop his theories of special and general relativity. The artwork has moving gears, a working clock, and a ‘speed adjuster’ that is an allusion to the need to compensate for the inconsistencies which surfaced when Newton’s model was tested in the light of more precise measurements of physical phenomena. At the centre of the sculpture is an animation of the moon going through its phases.
The work is displayed on a wall at the Questacon science museum in Canberra. I have not been able to find information as to its exact size but it is large—probably four to five metres in total height and a good two-and-a-half metres wide. The section of the mechanism shown in the photograph is probably a metre and a half across.
For a photo of the complete work, click on this link: www.flickr.com/photos/fotographia64/9771044394 .
For Wetherell’s own description of the sculpture, more photographs of the work, and a short video of it’s operation, go to the artist’s web page at:
www.wetherellart.co.uk/pages/sculpture_clockwork.html
© Irwin Reynolds, all rights reserved. If you are interested in using one of my images or would like a high quality fine art print, please send me an email (irwinreynolds@me.com)
Time traveller’s guide to a Clockwork Universe_0375
This steampunk style sculpture is the brainchild of UK artist, Tim Wetherell. On one level it represents a Newtonian model of the universe operating as a gigantic machine in accordance with fixed physical laws. But it is also a reference to the shortcomings of that model—shortcomings which eventually led Einstein to develop his theories of special and general relativity. The artwork has moving gears, a working clock, and a ‘speed adjuster’ that is an allusion to the need to compensate for the inconsistencies which surfaced when Newton’s model was tested in the light of more precise measurements of physical phenomena. At the centre of the sculpture is an animation of the moon going through its phases.
The work is displayed on a wall at the Questacon science museum in Canberra. I have not been able to find information as to its exact size but it is large—probably four to five metres in total height and a good two-and-a-half metres wide. The section of the mechanism shown in the photograph is probably a metre and a half across.
For a photo of the complete work, click on this link: www.flickr.com/photos/fotographia64/9771044394 .
For Wetherell’s own description of the sculpture, more photographs of the work, and a short video of it’s operation, go to the artist’s web page at:
www.wetherellart.co.uk/pages/sculpture_clockwork.html
© Irwin Reynolds, all rights reserved. If you are interested in using one of my images or would like a high quality fine art print, please send me an email (irwinreynolds@me.com)