Astronomy Blog

Cutaway

Unlike some people I don't see why there needs to be such a separation between the two cultures of Art and Science. Artists don't have to be scared of science and scientists are capable of being artistic. At school I used any excuse to included drawings and graphics in my coursework and I've tried to keep that up since becoming an adult. This has mostly been digital but I've kept drawing on paper too albeit not as much as I used to. I'm quite proud that I even managed to include a pencil drawing in my thesis which was inspired by illustrated books I used to borrow from the library as a child and by the great drawings of R.W. Porter.

The drawing shows a cutaway of the OCRA-p 30 GHz receiver, on a telescope in Poland. I spent a long time working on and with this receiver. Getting it to work and do science was variously frustrating, annoying, exciting and joyful. I feel quite attached to it and I'm glad I captured it in this portrait.