Joana_Lacerda_desma9

 Throughout my undergraduate degree, I devoted my studies to structural materials and structures in general. The degree's focus on characterization naturally led to X-Ray Diffraction but not as a medical technique or artistic one although the background on x-rays in general as the medical imaging part of it was promptly explained to us by Professor Goorsky in the very first lecture in his class. X-Ray Diffraction, and Diffraction Enhanced Imagery as I would later learn work by bombarding a sample with electrons that are energetic enough to knock out an electron from the inner shells of the atom, as shown in the Bohr model picture below. Electrons would then fall from the valence shell to fill the holes in the inner shells and emit photons of light which we can capture as images or spectra. As a materials engineer, the spectra or intensity graphs offer clues to the composition and structure of crytstalline materials.                 ...

 As a graduating international student, if there's one aspect of my identity I identify with is as an immigrant. But it isn't just when I came to UCLA that I started identifying as an immigrant. I was born in Brazil to Portuguese parents and for the rest of my life I would never quite fit in either country's culture. To my teachers and friends in Portugal, I came from the old colony, and never felt quite included enough when talking about the "Golden Age of Discovery", especially when slavery and colonization were topics of discussion. When I moved back to Brazil, I was the physical representation with the colonizer with the accent and the literary knowledge to boot. Additionally, I went to an International High School, which added yet a different perspective into the mix. And that's why this event peaked my interest as colony and colonizer and colonized have always been concepts that have bit dumbfounded me and something I didn't associate with either art...

 The topic for this week struck a chord with me because as an engineer mechanization and reproduction are all around me but the concept of robbing a work of its uniqueness because of mechanization had not occured to me. Walter Benjamin talks about the fact that reproducing a work of art necessarily robs it of the element of time and space where that work of art is produced (1). This is true, but I would disaggree with the premise that this a problem, as works of art aquire more meaning throughout time and space and because of their reproduction, which further enhances their uniqueness, not diminish it. Take for example Ode to Joy by Beethoven.  Folsom Symphony and Sacramento Master Singers Beethoven Symphony No.9 "Choral" Movement IV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdWyYn0E4Ys Widely regarded as a collosal work, both to play and to sing, it was described as having recieved so thunderous applauses that musician's had to alert a deaf Beethoven to turn around in appreciatio...

 I have loved the golden ratio since I learned about in Geometry in 9th grade. I loved the fact of an infinite sequence and how it would appear in everyday life: from flowers to museums to my classroom.  It was one of the first fairly complex concepts I could see in nature and touching on the ideas from last week on Art and Science, it was the first concept in Math I found artistically beautiful. The golden ratio, especially in flowers just amazed me and filled me with wonder. But I had no idea that there were more connections between art and Science, especially in the field of optics.  There's an entire chapter in the most difficult physics class I have had in my engineering major dedicated to optics, but I never knew where they came from. The concept of the vanaging point and how the rules of geometry applied to pictures of actual places, especially the expansion on the importance of triangles. In exercises like trying to find the reflection of an object either on a mir...

 I remember as a kid liking to draw and color. I also liked math and science and reading stories, especially with my parents, who always emphasized us reading as a group in bed. However, I didn't color "well."In front of my parents, I was told that I wasn't much of an artist, but that's ok because I was good at math. I never enjoyed an art class after that in my life. I should have been about 5. Like CP Snow illustrates in two cultures, I didn't fit the view of my kindergarten teacher as an artist. My mind was too logical, and I had a hard time coloring. I have been branded a "scientist" ever since.                                                            This is an actual picture I drew. I wasn't that bad. Obviously, I didn't realize that this concept was that pervasive at age five. However, it has fol...