Professor Harvell’s presentation of the Blaschka Glass models and her documentary work of them providing an interesting look into the way that science is connected to history.  Oftentimes, when we think of science here at the university, we tend to look at it as independent of time (physics majors, please resist the relativity joke).  Even when we do think about the temporal component of science, we only use time in the evolutionary sense.   Besides those of us in rather niche programs like STS, we rarely look at the history of science and how we got to our current level of knowledge.

My appreciation for Professor Harvell’s presentation is that it addresses this precise gap in the typical lenses that we use to look at science.  It’s quite an interesting this to see how people in the mid-19th century imagined the creatures of the deep, and it’s remarkable to learn that we are still using their models as the standard from which we search the seas.

Additionally, the artistic component of the glass pieces is also astonishing, though this warrants less explanation.  Both the detail, accuracy, and unqualified beauty of the pieces is extraordinary.  To this point, when Professor Harvell’s asked us to identify which image contained a glass piece and which contained an actual organism, I guessed incorrectly, as did other seated near me.