Symphony of Science

“The Symphony of Science is a musical project headed by John Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form”.

That is the opening sentence to the Symphony of Science website, and how true it is. So far, John Boswell has created 16 songs (all available to download for free from his website), and all are droplets of pure gold. The idea of mixing science and music is not new, but John creates some true masterpieces. He mashes up pitch-corrected audio of popular scientists and educators (see list below) with his own original compositions. He has also made videos of each song, again mashing up various clips.

The 16 songs are, in order of release, as follows:

1. A Glorious Dawn
2. We Are All Connected
3. Our Place In The Cosmos
4. The Unbroken Thread
5. The Poetry of Reality
6. The Case For Mars
7. A Wave Of Reason
8. The Big Beginning
9. Ode To The Brain
10. Children Of Africa (The Story Of Us)
11. The Quantum World
12. Onward To The Edge!
13. The Greatest Show On Earth
14. The World Of The Dinosaurs
15. We Are Star Dust
16. Our Biggest Challenge
17. Secret of the Stars
18. Monsters of the Cosmos
19. Waves of Light

The wiki page for Symphony of Science lists details about each song, including who sings in each and where the video clips are from.

I think all 19 songs are fantastic, and it’s very tough to choose which is my favourite one! It alternates depending on what mood I’m in. I do love the chorus in “Our Place In The Cosmos” though, sang by Richard Dawkins:

“Are there things about the Universe that will be forever beyond our grasp? Are there things about the Universe that are ungraspable?”

The Scientists (among many others): Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking,  Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Richard Dawkins, Michio Kaku, Robert Jastrow, David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, Brian Greene, PZ Meyers, Lawrence Krauss, Michael Shermer, Robert Zubrin, Brian Cox, Penelope Boston, Bertrand Russell, Sam Harris, Carolyn Porco, Phil Plait, James Randi, and Tara Shears.

Onwards, to greater discoveries!