Science is Aesthetic

Scientists base their careers on their ability to apply scientific methods, rational judgments, and perceptual skills to answer questions and test hypotheses. Beneath these rational processes there also exists a web of perceptions, inarticulate skills, and approaches that are essential to theorizing. Criteria such as symmetry, simplicity, elegance, unity, and satisfaction may not be susceptible to logical scrutiny but likely form a significant component to our theorizing.

Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan and his team of researchers at The Catholic University of America first explored how beauty motivates scientists, before expanding the conversation to consider how beauty is integral to all forms of work. “Work and Wellbeing in Science” was the first systematic, international research project focused on the role of beauty, awe, and wonder in scientific inquiry. The project entailed representative research on physicists and biologists in the United States, United Kingdom, India, and Italy. Vaidyanathan and his team will examined how:

• Scientists understand and experience beauty, awe, and wonder in their work;
• Key social factors shape these experiences, including institutional pressures, national cultures, and the scientists’ own spiritual orientations; and
• The consequences of these aesthetic experiences relate to scientific understanding and wellbeing within scientists’ careers.

Beauty is the attractive power of reality,” Vaidyanathan said. “I’m interested in what about work can be beautiful in the sense of being both attractive and also good for our human flourishing.”

Exploring Beauty in Work

Vaidyanathan and his colleagues recently completed a study titled “Work and Wellbeing in Science.” Consisting of nearly 3500 completed surveys and more than 200 in-depth interviews, it was the world’s first large-scale study of the role of beauty in science. The findings showed that beauty matters immensely to scientists and shapes their work profoundly. In particular, the study revealed that things such as symmetry, simplicity, elegance, unity, and satisfaction are often significant to the practice of science and even the well-being of scientists.

Like many discoveries, these findings prompted new questions. How might beauty be relevant to other domains such as justice, business, education, and other aspects of life? Could new insights into the drivers of meaningful work be uncovered? Could beauty at work be a powerful antidote to workplace woes such as burnout and attrition?

Worker stress, burnout, and “quiet quitting” are at all-time highs, and A.I. is nibbling at the edges of many jobs. In times like these, a symposium on beauty at work may seem out of sync with the real world. We typically don’t think of work as beautiful. Beauty is a term we usually associate with art, fashion, or appearances. And even there, it’s often seen as outmoded or trivial.

The Aesthetic Dimensions of Science? 

SYMMETRY

1. Symmetry is an underlying mathematical principle behind all patterns and is important in art, mathematics, and biology. Symmetry, and balancing, is also important in science.

SIMPLICITY / ELEGANCE

2. Many scientists find simpler models and explanations “better” than more complex ones, and believe that a theory that is simple and elegant is more likely to be true.

UNITY

3. Scientists look for unifying principles that tie things together, like pieces of a puzzle. The pursuit of unity and harmony has driven major advances in all levels of reality, and strong notions of science drive scientific inquiry.

RADIANCE

4. Radiance in the aesthetic sense has to do with an object’s ability to captivate the eye, ear, or mind. Such experiences of visual beauty are important for aesthetics, ranging from natural to technological.

AWE

5. Scientific theories and objects in the natural world can elicit awe. Awe is a perception of vastness and accommodation of new experiences into our mental structures. For scientists, awe often comes from discovering something new or refining the work of other scientists.

WONDER

6. Ancient philosophers understood wonder as the starting point for inquiry. Scientists often feel curiosity and a relentless desire to look, ask, and seek answers for scientific research. This pursuit of understanding also helps to replace wonder with knowledge.

HEURISTIC

7. Beauty is often a heuristic in science, a cue to make choices. For tools, to see if a new idea makes sense. Preference for symmetry and simplicity sometimes helps scientists. We need to understand when aesthetic factors can be liabilities rather than assets for scientific inquiry.

Conclusion: Global Research on the Aesthetic Dimensions of Science

This work offers a deeper understanding of the motivations for scientific work, new insights into key drivers of scientific inquiry, and the factors that shape job satisfaction, retention, and burnout in career paths of scientists. The research may even help to dispel popular misconceptions of scientists as being strictly analytical and calculating reductionists.

“Attention to beauty and aesthetics is a vehicle to bring people together, to enrich their lives, to give them meaning,” reports one panelist Anjan Chatterjee, professor of neurology, psychology, and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. “And especially now, given the current political, social, and cultural environment, maybe it’s as important as it ever has been.”

Funding from Templeton Religion Trust is also supporting the Beauty at Work podcast, where Vaidyanathan interviews experts about the role of beauty in science and other professional domains.