On Tuesday I attended a lecture given by Professor Joycelyn Bell Burnell on the connection between astronomy and poetry. She expressed that both science and creative outlets try to explain the ‘unexplainable’ and that we strive for answers whether we attempt to do this through poetry or experiments. She did oversimplify scientific elements such as the electromagnetic spectrum, which I found a little unnecessary. However I was impressed by Burnell’s idea of having the attendees of the lecture read out the poems aloud, as this was engaging. I have often found the scientific and the creative closely linked as I find inspiration from nature and the body. As a fan of Hardy and Wordsworth I was glad that Burnell acknowledged these writers as great poets and amateur astronomers. I found this lecture sometimes too basic but overall entertaining.
