ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the science in our culture through its effects on art, the media, and daily life, and examines the subculture of science and scientists with its own rules and beliefs. One way that science enters daily life is through cooking, beginning with the invention in 1800 of the kitchen range by the physicist Count Rumford, a pioneer in thermodynamics. The involvement continued with the invention of the microwave oven in 1947, based on the development of radar in World War II. “Hubs, Struts, and Aesthetics” explores the relation between aesthetic form and useful function in industrial design. “Inspirational Realism; Chesley Bonestell and Astronomical Art” shows how stunningly realistic images of planets and spacecraft made by the illustrator Chesley Bonestell helped launch the space age in the 1950s and 1960s.
