USC Libraries Names Discovery Fellow
Wertheim will begin her fellowship with “The Marine Sublime,” an event that will investigate the relationship between art and marine biology through discussion, film clips and exploration of rare scientific works in the libraries’ special collections. The program will include clips from and a discussion of Proteus and selected Painlevé works, as well as a viewing of rare editions of Haeckel’s illustrations from the libraries’ special collections.
“When I came to USC four year ago, a lot of people were not using the library as much as I thought they should be. And a lot of people don’t like being told to go to the library,” said USC Libraries dean Catherine Quinlan. “So we wanted to make it exciting for students to come and engage with our collection.”
As director of The Institute for Figuring, Wertheim has developed many exhibitions and educational programs dedicated to increasing understanding of the mathematics of art, the poetry of geometry, and the surprising connections between the scientific and the fantastical.
“I am excited to begin a project such as the Discovery fellowship at USC, where we will be able to engage such a talented and intellectually curious community,” Wertheim said in a statement. “The evolution of ideas happens in response to dynamic conditions in our cultural landscape, and today, libraries are at the forefront of intellectual and cultural change. As places where ideas meet, libraries are the ideal environments in which to forge new conversations between the arts, sciences and humanities.”
Wertheim will moderate “The Marine Sublime” on Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. in Doheny Memorial Library. The event will feature filmmaker David Lebrun, creator of Proteus - a documentary that explores the relationship of art and science through the works of 19th-century biologist and illustrator Ernst Haeckel - and Marina McDougall, co-editor of Science Is Fiction: The Films of Jean Painlevé. McDougall also organized the first retrospective of the French director’s pioneering underwater films in the United States.
“I’m hoping this is the start of something our campus will embrace,” said Quinlan, “and that they will be asking us to do it instead of us volunteering.
To RSVP, go to USC's website and enter the event code "Marine."
