Musicians and scientists

One of my first posts on this blog was about people who are both scientists and musicians. Lately, I have been quiet on the scientist/musician front, but only because I had a much, much bigger plan. I’ve been thinking for a long time about making a documentary about people who are both scientists and musicians, and I’ve been holding on to all the information I found as part of my research. I talked to several people with science or music backgrounds to figure out where to start, and I took some documentary filmmaking workshops. I had to suppress most of my ideas, because I was finishing up my PhD. I successfully defended my thesis a few weeks ago, and in January I will start a temporary job related to undergraduate education. Unlike lab work, that will not take me all my waking hours, so I have time to work on other projects, and can finally start the research interviewing stage of the documentary process. There is a blog on which I will post updates about the documentary or other scientist/musician related links of interest. The easternblot blog and the Nature Network blog will basically continue as it was, but maybe I will actually have time to update those more now that I’m no longer in the lab!

james girsch

April 6th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

I’m trying to decide upon three great scientists who were also musicians or dedicated painters. Einstein played the violin all his life; Louis Pasteur was a very accomplished portrait artist who worked mostly in pastels, and he too, at least in his earlier years, continued to draw and paint; Albert Schweitzer was the leading authority on the organ works of Bach, and I believe as well on the interpretation of Bach’s organ works. Schweitzer was considered the rising star in philosophy before he renounced that career and entered medical school as his Christian duty. If you can think of another great scientist who played throughout his career, I’d be grateful to learn about it. Best, Girsch