Walking, balancing or jumping: in much ancient art, these kinds of gravitational effects are taken for granted. However, the understanding of the physical phenomenon changed over time. PhD student Marte Sophie Meessen investigates how gravity was interpreted and depicted in seventeenth-century art, shortly before Newton published his theoretical underpinnings.
Her findings can soon be followed on Facesofscience.nl. On this website, dozens of PhD students blog about their research, science in general and their lives as researchers. The blogs are of interest to anyone who wants to know how academia works in practice. In addition, they should give a realistic picture to students who have to decide whether they want to pursue an academic career, and to students from 5 and 6 vwo who are facing a study choice.
Faces of Science is a network of PhD students from different fields who give science a young face through blogs, videos, articles, lectures and media appearances. It is a project of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, De Jonge Akademie and NEMO Kennislink, funded by the Lira Foundation.