ARTWORK DETAILS
David Aston
God does not play dice (Theory of Everything - LHC)
Proton and Grand Unification Theory dice in miniature Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
2024
“Einstein never accepted that the universe was governed by chance; his feelings were summed up in his famous quote “God does not play dice””
FURTHER DETAILS
For some time I have been researching the history of scientific discovery, exploring the often interconnected study and experiments with light, optics, gravity, space and time as sources of wonder and inspiration for my work.
This scientific research led me to a wider study of gravity, physics and the forces which shape our universe. I applied for residencies to study at Oxford and CERN to understand the Large Hadron Collider and experiments into the nature of fundamental forces.
God does not play dice (Theory of everything) is taken from this research and Einstein’s famous quote “God does not play dice with the universe” which expressed his discomfort with the uncertainty of quantum physics and his belief in the discovery of a single unifying theory of everything. A single theory which would unify all fundamental forces and the theories of macro relativity with the micro quantum world. I wanted to play with these big theories into the known and unknown and to use my dice as a means of experimentation into the uncertainty of the universe.
Inspired by a lecture into unification theories I created a new set of dice containing the universal elements of these experiments. A Standard Model of Particle Physics dice containing leptons and quarks. A Proton Dice containing the elements of the proton rays accelerated and collided in the large hadron collider. Finally a pearl (of wisdom) coloured Grand Unification Theory Dice containing the force carriers, including the only recently discovered Higgs boson. To this last dice, unbound by science, I included the as yet undiscovered Graviton (G / ?), which if discovered would complete the grand unification theory.
Finally I chose a dice shaker in the form of a miniature hadron collider. A playful dice shaker for the biggest questions in the universe.
God does not play dice (Theory of Everything)
Proton and Grand unification theory dice in miniature collider tube section
EXHIBITIONS
2024 | Society of Scottish Artists 126th Annual Exhibition | Royal Scottish Academy | Edinburgh