Physics mosh pit, stained-glass scientists, opera and dance at CERN and more

By Hamish Johnston

Last week Physics World’s Michael Banks was at the APS March Meeting in San Antonio, and at the top of his to-do list was to belt out a few tunes at the event’s regular physics singalong. You can hear him in harmony with a roomful of physicists in a rendition of “(You Got Me) Lasing” in the video above. It is sung by Walter Smith of Haverford College to the tune of Britney Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and his performance drives the dance floor into a frenzy of moshing physicists.

If you need something a bit jazzier to get your toes tapping, check out the video below. It features Robin Selinger of Kent State University singing a lovely version of “Relativity” by the American satirist Tom Lehrer. For lyrics, videos and much more about physics in song, check out PhysicsSongs.org, which is curated by Smith.

Continuing with the themes of dance and music, tomorrow sees the première of Symmetry, which is a film that combines elements of opera and dance that was shot on location in the tunnels and experiments at CERN. It follows the exploits of a physicist (played by Lukáš Timulak) who is struck by an inner voice that is performed by the soprano Claron McFadden. The film is directed by Ruben van Leer and you can watch a trailer and “teaser” at the Huffington Post.

From song and dance to stained glass, image stock library Shutterstock has commissioned the artist Aaron Coleman to create stained-glass lithographs that celebrate the scientists Isaac Newton, Ada Lovelace, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nikolai Tesla and Alan Turing. My favourite is the image of Lovelace, who is depicted as a neo-gothic angel with a tablet computer in one hand.

The final item in this all-arts edition of the Red Folder is a call to writers of science fiction who want to sharpen the physics content of their work. The Schrödinger Sessions: Science for Science Fiction will be held on 30 July – 1 August at the Joint Quantum Institute near Washington, DC. Described as a “three-day workshop for science-fiction writers offering a ‘crash course’ in modern physics”, the event is co-organized by Chad Orzel, who answers a few FAQs about the event on his blog Uncertain Principles.