Charlie and Joyce at the Intersection of Science and Art

Abstract

One evening over sushi in late 2014, Doris Tsao and I came up with the idea of inviting Charlie Gross and Joyce Carol Oates to come to Caltech to have a public conversation about science and art (Fig. 1). The idea was received enthusiastically by our colleagues, which led to the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering and the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences through the James Michelin Distinguished Visitors program sponsoring "At the Intersection of Art and Sciences: a conversation with Joyce Carol Oates and Charles Gross" which played to a packed house of more than 300 at Caltech on April 29, 2015. Here is one image grabbed from the video made of their conversation. Charlie and Joyce are discussing how the amnesic subject, HM, whom she learned about from Charlie, inspired her to write A Man Without A Shadow. Her novel is about a neuropsychologist who is studying HM and falls in love with him even though he cannot remember her! Their fascinating conversation can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRuSTjQmVg.

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