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| Watson |
In 1962, my father closed his family practice in the Henry
County community of Middletown to begin a residency at the
Indiana University School of Medicine. He could not have foreseen
the incredible medical breakthroughs that would transpire
during the next 41 years. Not in his wildest imaginings.
1962 was also the year IU alumnus James Watson and his colleague
Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize for their 1953 discovery
of the DNA molecule. While my father had been making house
calls and, occasionally, bringing an impatient child into
the world at hearthside when it would not wait for an entrance
at nearby Ball Memorial in Muncie or St. John’s in Anderson,
scientific “imaginings” were taking concrete form.
A template that would forever define the possibilities for
quality-of-life research had made its entrance.
Bill Elliott, director of university ceremonies, came up
with a brilliant theme, “Imagine,” for the Sept.
30 dedication of the Research II facility on the Indianapolis
campus (see story, page 1). The words to John Lennon’s
Imagine, which Lennon recorded in 1971, resonate with
hope and longing for the future of humankind.
Imagine for a moment the meaning of “bioluminescence”—that
natural phenomenon exhibited by certain marine creatures and
plants, by a range of bacteria and fungi, and by fireflies
in a Midwestern summer field. Each organism is equipped with
the genetic coding to convert chemical energy to light, enabling
it to flourish in a particular pattern of survival.
Bioluminescence presents itself to sailors as glowing plankton
in the wake of a ship; to hikers as blazing foxfire; to children
as soda-bottle lanterns fueled by lightning bugs.
Literally “living light,” bioluminescence is an
apt term for an exquisite public artwork being assembled this
week in the atrium of the Van Nuys Medical Science Building.
Light is, after all, a classic metaphor for knowledge.
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| Chihuly |
Glass artist Dale Chihuly’s expression of the Watson-Crick
discovery is a representation of that double-helical molecule
that led to completion of the full human genome sequence this
past April and created a bridge for future biomedical breakthroughs.
Chihuly’s DNA will tower toward the natural light
of the Van Nuys’ glass ceiling, the “backbone”
of the piece a double-helical armature of steel supporting
the famous “twisted ladder” molecular pattern. Nearly
1,000 globes of colored glass will represent the components
of heredity and the genetic instructions for growth, development
and replication common to all organisms.
The luminous effect created by light filtering through an
intricacy of form and color will establish this artistic installation
as a timeless Hoosier treasure. The anonymous donor whose
generosity and trust in this project made it possible must
be, well, glowing from within.
In addition to marking the half-century anniversary of the
discovery of DNA, the work will stand as a tribute to the
IU School of Medicine as it commemorates a century of service,
teaching and research to the Hoosier state (see related stories:
The Icing on the Cake and Medical
centennial celebration begins).
Chihuly’s Seattle-based operation, which includes the
nearby Pilchuck School for emerging glass artists, has gained
an international reputation during the past quarter century
for installations that portray the natural world in a mystical
and stunningly vibrant way. This new addition to Chihuly’s
body of work is an exciting departure—given the scientific
certainties from which his representation is modeled, but
his installations, whether in Venice or Jerusalem or New York
City, all pay tribute to the intricate secrets of life.
Now consider the medium as message.
Glass, both industrial and artistic, requires the bringing
together of two of Earth’s most basic natural gifts.
The marriage of fire and sand creates a solid material with
the properties of a liquid: Molten glass can be transformed
into objects as functional as an ancient Egyptian container
or a modern laboratory test tube, as complex as a fiberoptic
thread, as elegantly beautiful as a Tiffany window or as magnificent
as the template of a molecule—imagined but not seen—by
the 19th-century monk Gregor Mendel.
Glassblowing as technique hasn’t changed much since
the days of the Roman Empire, and yet the breathtaking originality
of Chihuly is, notes author William Warmus, a combination
of “magic and alchemy.”
The creative force often arrives at its finest place at
the intersection of the arts, the sciences and the humanities,
a phenomenon that may be the magic inherent to this particular
event of which IU is participant, star and beneficiary. As
E.H. Gobrich wrote in his classic 1950 book, The Story
of Art has as its plot “a continuous weaving and
changing of traditions in which each work refers to the past
and points to the future, a living chain that still links
our own time with the Pyramid age.”
And so it is, again, the re-invigorating month of September.
Happy 100th birthday, IU School of Medicine. (And happy 80th
birthday to you, Dad.) |
