Beauty is in our response: How delight drives scientific inquiry

How is beauty a driving force in science?

In our latest video, the Revd. Professor Robert Gilbert at the University of Oxford explores this question. Beauty, he argues, is not merely a property of objects but a profound response elicited by our encounters with them.

Prof. Gilbert is Professor of Biophysics and Director of Graduate Studies in the Nuffield Department of Medicine and is also an Anglican priest. His research focuses on focused on molecular mechanisms underlying pathology in humans, specifically cancer and membrane pore formation and cell adhesion. He is the author of Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty (Routledge, 2018).

In this short video, Prof. Gilbert discusses the field of structural biology, highlighting how techniques such as X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy allow scientists to visualize molecules at an atomic resolution. These visualizations, he explains, not only advance scientific knowledge but also possess an intrinsic beauty that captivates scientists and laypeople alike.

Prof. Gilbert likens the joy scientists find in their discoveries to that of artists delighting in their work. He goes on to argue that the most interesting aspect of beauty in science is not in the objective aesthetic properties of phenomena but in our response to them. Why is it that our emotional responses to beauty provide insight into the nature of reality? That's a puzzle worth pondering.

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