Abstract We usually think of aesthetic experiences as belonging to our engagement with artistic products such as paintings, sculptures, literature, and music, or nature itself. But science can be a source of a wide range of aesthetic experiences, and scientific pursuits in their turn can be shaped by aesthetic judgements. In this piece, I explore how scientific experimentation, through the choice of design, production of results, performance, and creative agency, is both shaped by aesthetic judgements and a source of a broad range of aesthetic experiences. The piece reflects why the aesthetic dimension of scientific practice matters in the production of knowledge.
Milena Ivanova (Thu,) studied this question.