Moved by the Muons

Science meets art in the Cloud Chamber, a dynamic new sculpture by Visual Arts assistant professor Lucy Pullen. Following its four-month exhibit at Seattle’s noted Henry Art Gallery earlier this year, the Cloud Chamber is now installed in the lobby of the Elliott Lecture Theatre. Pullen describes the piece as a "conjoined pair of elongated bi-symmetric sphendecahedrons." (Say that five times fast!) The aluminum shell houses an environmental chamber reproducing the atmospheric conditions needed to see subatomic cosmic rays, which randomly enter our atmosphere from outer space. 

The Cloud Chamber is a collaborative UVic effort between sculptor Pullen, astro-particle physicist Justin Albert, mechanical designer Mark Lenckowski, head machinist Chris Secord and computer programmer Chris Tooley, with assistance by undergraduate students Laura Anderson (visual arts), Kate Pachal (physics) and Shane Prokopy (mechanical engineering). The electronics work was done by Neil Honkanen (physics & astronomy), the chamber's frame was built at UVic, and the case was built by local architectural fabricators Tara Precision.

For more information, see http://www.theartinparticle.com

Photos: John Threlfall