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The Art of Innovation

The Art of Innovation: Reaching for the Moon

Reaching for the Moon

BBC Radio 4 - The Art of Innovation, Reaching for the Moon

Ian Blatchford on James Nasmyth’s compelling images of the lunar surface

Sir Ian Blatchford focuses on how James Nasmyth’s artistic interpretation of the moon’s surface created scientific fact.

Nearly a century before the Apollo astronauts first captured close up images of the lunar surface, similar detailed photographs had appeared in a book by artist and engineer James Nasmyth.  Ian unravels the extraordinary creative process Nasmyth went through. He made meticulous drawings from nightly moon observations though his 20 inch telescope, from which he moulded in plaster detailed recreations of the lunar surface. One of his carefully crafted models in the Science Museum Group’s collection is testament to the sheer amount of scientific detail Nasmyth fashioned, and went on to light and then photograph.

It’s no secret Nasmyth’s artistic creations were highly contrived. But intriguingly, as Ian reveals, at a time when this new era of photography offered science an objective untainted eye, it’s Nasmyth’s very contrivance that led to universal praise for their accuracy and authenticity. It was to prove a pivotal moment in the history of scientific imagery and kick-started realistic renderings of other worlds.

Producer Adrian Washbourne

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group

Photograph (C) The Science Museum Group

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Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

How art and science have inspired each other.

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth explore how art and science have inspired each other.

In this landmark series, art historian and Director of the Science Museum Ian Blatchford and technology historian and Head of Collections of the Science Museum Tilly Blyth explore the art of invention and the invention of art and reveal the symbiotic relationship between the two. Many feel science takes the magic out of creativity. These programmes show how scientific advance facilitates creativity. And further, how artistic and scientific endeavour are inspired by the same desires and, often, are the result of intimate conversations between good friends. Galileo's painter friend Ludovicio Cigoli paints a maculate moon on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel and what does Galileo see when he looks through his telescope? A maculate moon. The poet Samuel Coleridge and the chemist Humphrey Davy were very close friends. Scientific innovators are creative thinkers. And the creation of art is dependent on technological development, as well as an aesthetic sense. Throughout history, artists and scientists have both desired to make sense of the world around them and change it, 

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group. 

Image credit: Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

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