One question

Angela Childs (Marketing Executive/PA to Director): David has notice the heli-spinner on the left-hand side of the mural - what's the significance of this?

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Hi Angela,

I really enjoy these questions... this heli-spinner has a few meanings but the most relevant are the following:

It stands for the playful origin of science. Toys are any scientist's first Lab. The first questions come from them... concepts such as un-conservative forces (attrite, friction) are experienced every time the toy slows down faster then the child expects it to. The wish to fabricate more complex and more effective / efficient mechanisms leads inevitably to the wish to understand exactly "how things work". The first thing that a "future scientist" investigates is usually the inside of his/her toys.

Being a device that overcomes gravity temporarily by the creation of an opposing force it also symbolises the macro world science explores with the theory of relativity (represented by Einstein, Galileo and Newton in the screen-prints next to it). Metaphorically this interesting toy that "fights gravity" also stands for the effort a scientist had to do 100 years ago to overcome a paradigm established so long ago (Einstein's 1905 papers).

Hope this was good enough. We'll have time to talk about it in the science park hopefully. This mural is full of meanings and little puzzles that scientists will surely enjoy but this is probably the least obvious one. Great question! Can't wait to share it with the people that can enjoy the scientific/conceptual dimension I tried hard to build within it.

Kind regards,

Manel