Crossing Over: Art and Science at Caltech, 1920–2020: The Infinite Lawn and Spectrum Petals
Completed in 1932 and one of the oldest buildings on campus, the Linde Laboratory for Global Environmental Science still operates a small solar telescope. It projects a live image of the sun that welcomes visitors to the exhibition.
The sun was pivotal to the life and work of George Ellery Hale, who led the development of Caltech into a scientific research institution. Between 1903 and 1905, Hale envisioned and built Mount Wilson Observatory, where in 1923 astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that our Milky Way was just one of many galaxies in an expanding universe. Later, Hale collaborated with architect Russell Porter to develop the Palomar Observatory 200-inch telescope, which opened in 1948 as the largest on Earth. Built on an ancient Indigenous site for starwatching, Palomar remains one of the world’s most recognizable scientific facilities. Astronomers have used its telescopes to map the night sky, discover distant stars and galaxies, and uncover the nature of quasars, the most luminous and energetic objects in the universe—all the while creating magnificent images of space that continue to fuel not only science but also art and the popular imagination.
In 2004, artist Shana Mabari collaborated with Shinsuke Shimojo, Caltech’s Gertrude Baltimore Professor of Experimental Psychology, on the design of Dynamic Spatial Illusions, a portable experimental visual-sensory environment. Mabari created the series of seven Spectrum Petals specifically for installation along Caltech’s historic Bechtel Mall, echoing astronomical instruments and the narrow band of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum.