--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later…" description: "\"“Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there should be a “consilience” between art and science. 79 Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison took sel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg" --- # Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there… ![“Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there should be a “consilience” between art and science. 79 Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison took selected images with her on her first trip to space, including a poster of dancer and former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance…” quote by Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg) > ““Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there should be a “consilience” between art and science. 79 Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison took selected images with her on her first trip to space, including a poster of dancer and former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Judith Jamison performing the dance Cry, and a Bundu statue from Sierra Leone, because, as she said, “the creativity that allowed us . . . to conceive and build and launch the space shuttle, springs from the same source as the imagination and analysis it took to carve a Bundu statue, or the ingenuity it took to design, choreograph, and stage ‘Cry.’ . . . That’s what we have to reconcile in our minds, how these things fit together.” 80 As a jazz musician once told me, musicians are mathematicians as well as artists. Morse’s story suggests that the argument started not because of the need to bring art and science together, but because they were once not so far apart. 81 When Frank Jewett Mather Jr. of The Nation stated that Morse “was an inventor superimposed upon an artist,” it was factually true. 82 Equally true is that Morse could become an inventor because he was an artist all the while. In one of the final paintings that laid him flat, the painting that failed to secure his last attempt at a commission, one he had worked fifteen years to achieve, Morse may have left a clue about his shift from art to invention, and the fact that the skills required for both are the same. He painted The House of Representatives (1822–23) as evidence of his suitability for a commission from Congress to complete a suite of paintings that still adorn the U.S. Capitol building. The painting has an odd compositional focus. In the center is a man screwing in an oil chandelier, preoccupied with currents. Morse was “rejected beyond hope of appeal” by the congressional commission led by John Quincy Adams. When he toured the picture for seven weeks—displayed in a coffee house in Salem, Massachusetts, and at exhibitions in New York, Boston, Middleton, and Hartford, Connecticut—it lost twenty dollars in the first two weeks. Compounded by a litany of embarrassing, near-soul-stealing artistic failures, he took to his bed for weeks, “more seriously depressed than ever.” This final rejection forced him to shift his energies to his telegraph invention. 83 By 1844 Morse went to the Capitol focused on a current that would occupy the work of Congress—obtaining a patent for the telegraph.”” [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art and science share a common source of imagination and analytical skill, showing their historical interconnection. **In simple terms:** Art and science stem from the same creative source. Key Takeaway Recognize and bridge the gap between disciplines. Themes interdisciplinary creativity science art Mood curious inspired Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - space exploration - visual arts - music composition Key Concepts imagination analysis innovation Questions to Reflect On - How can you combine art and science? - What benefits arise from interdisciplinary work? A Different Perspective Integration can be hindered by institutional silos. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art and science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-and-science/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Fifteen years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fifteen-years/) [Jazz musician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jazz-musician/) [Sierra leone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sierra-leone/) [Space shuttle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space-shuttle/) ## Related quotes > [“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me—they’re shy and they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/most-inventors-and-engineers-i-ve-met-are-like-me-they-re-shy-and/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) > [“It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/improve-life-books/it-s-your-place-in-the-world-it-s-your-life-go-on-and-do-all-you-can/) Improve Life Books > [In our day the conventional element in literature is elaborately disguised by a law of copyright pretending that every work of art is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/in-our-day-the-conventional-element-in-literature-is-elaborately/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/art-is-an-invention-of-aesthetics-which-in-turn-is-an-invention-of/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [I remember reading about Mae Jemison, that astronaut. That was immensely fantastic to me. This woman went to the moon!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliana-rotich/i-remember-reading-about-mae-jemison-that-astronaut-that-was/) Juliana Rotich > [After all these years of saying the same thing about the Alvin Ailey company - terrific dancers, awful repertory - I'm finally accepting the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/after-all-these-years-of-saying-the-same-thing-about-the-alvin-ailey/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [“Aside from being famous, what do Beethoven, Mark Rothko, Hemingway, Francis Ford Coppola, Van Gogh, Alvin Ailey, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, Balzac, Jackson Pollock,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-a-shapiro/aside-from-being-famous-what-do-beethoven-mark-rothko-hemingway/) B.A. Shapiro > [I am trained, and I did do 'The Nutcracker' in its right form, but at the time, they told me I was black and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurieann-gibson/i-am-trained-and-i-did-do-the-nutcracker-in-its-right-form-but-at-the/) [Laurieann Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurieann-gibson/) > [DeFrantz's study...is not the first book about the protean Ailey, who was born in hardscrabble Texas in 1931 and died in 1989 after creating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/defrantz-s-study-is-not-the-first-book-about-the-protean-ailey-who/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [It's called the Ailey American Dance Theatre, not the Alvin Ailey African-American Dance Theatre. One thing also that Alvin wanted people to recognize, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-jamison/it-s-called-the-ailey-american-dance-theatre-not-the-alvin-ailey/) [Judith Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-jamison/) > [I'm born originally in Toronto, and I have what I call my 'Fame' story. I took a Greyhound bus and went to Alvin Ailey…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurieann-gibson/i-m-born-originally-in-toronto-and-i-have-what-i-call-my-fame-story-i/) [Laurieann Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurieann-gibson/) > [As long as there are dancers around who love to dance, there will be an Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. We miss him so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-jamison/as-long-as-there-are-dancers-around-who-love-to-dance-there-will-be/) [Judith Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-jamison/) > [I was used to dancing, but only when someone told you what to do. So in the nightclub I was all over the place,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/i-was-used-to-dancing-but-only-when-someone-told-you-what-to-do-so-in/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [I danced growing up. I had two friends of mine that, actually, one of them wound up dancing with Alvin Ailey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-ann-walter/i-danced-growing-up-i-had-two-friends-of-mine-that-actually-one-of/) [Lisa Ann Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-ann-walter/) > [My dad is a director/producer and my mom is a dancer; she performed with Alvin Ailey, but I didn't even think about becoming an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanaa-lathan/my-dad-is-a-director-producer-and-my-mom-is-a-dancer-she-performed/) [Sanaa Lathan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanaa-lathan/) ## More by Sarah Lewis > [“We permit a new future to enter the room with these startling encounters. A young boy from Austin, Texas, Charles Black Jr., stood and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/we-permit-a-new-future-to-enter-the-room-with-these-startling/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [Success is a label that the world confers on you, but mastery is an ever-onward 'almost.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/success-is-a-label-that-the-world-confers-on-you-but-mastery-is-an/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [Shoes are money well spent and a good metaphor for life: everything else in life may be awful but a shoe will cheer me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/shoes-are-money-well-spent-and-a-good-metaphor-for-life-everything/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [Mastery is in constantly wanting to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/mastery-is-in-constantly-wanting-to-close-the-gap-between-where-you/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [A near win shifts our view of the landscape. It can turn future goals, which we tend to envision at a distance, into more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/a-near-win-shifts-our-view-of-the-landscape-it-can-turn-future-goals/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“In one of our conversations, she told me about Finland’s development of sisu, a rough cognate for grit. Etymologically, sisu denotes a person’s viscera,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/in-one-of-our-conversations-she-told-me-about-finland-s-development/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“A rise often falls into the blind spot of vision, and so we tell the stories that I have in this book because we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/a-rise-often-falls-into-the-blind-spot-of-vision-and-so-we-tell-the/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“There is no word to describe exactly what the High Line is to the non-architects among us, nor the collective reframing process required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/there-is-no-word-to-describe-exactly-what-the-high-line-is-to-the-non/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [Pain is not a punishment. And pleasure is not a reward. You could argue that failure is not punishment and Success is not reward.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/pain-is-not-a-punishment-and-pleasure-is-not-a-reward-you-could-argue/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [Completion is a goal, but we hope it is never the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/completion-is-a-goal-but-we-hope-it-is-never-the-end/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“How many movements began when an aesthetic encounter indelibly changed our past perceptions of the world? It was an abolitionist’s print, not logical argument,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/how-many-movements-began-when-an-aesthetic-encounter-indelibly/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“If you want to see it well, you must not stand in one place . . . If you’re rooted to a spot, you miss a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/if-you-want-to-see-it-well-you-must-not-stand-in-one-place-if-you-re/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“He told his story through autobiographies that garnered him wide acclaim (and a warrant for his life—as we know, he fled to Britain to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/he-told-his-story-through-autobiographies-that-garnered-him-wide/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“It was a truth that Leo Tolstoy declaimed a century or so ago: our response to art has the agency to do what “external…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/it-was-a-truth-that-leo-tolstoy-declaimed-a-century-or-so-ago-our/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) > [“A fuller vision comes from our ability to recognize the fallibility in our current and past forms of sight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/a-fuller-vision-comes-from-our-ability-to-recognize-the-fallibility/) [Sarah Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) [Explore all 39 Sarah Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there should be a “consilience” between art and science. 79 Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison took selected images with her on her first trip to space, including a poster of dancer and former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Judith Jamison performing the dance Cry, and a Bundu statue from Sierra Leone, because, as she said, “the creativity that allowed us . . . to conceive and build and launch the space shuttle, springs from the same source as the imagination and analysis it took to carve a Bundu statue, or the ingenuity it took to design, choreograph, and stage ‘Cry.’ . . . That’s what we have to reconcile in our minds, how these things fit together.” 80 As a jazz musician once told me, musicians are mathematicians as well as artists. Morse’s story suggests that the argument started not because of the need to bring art and science together, but because they were once not so far apart. 81 When Frank Jewett Mather Jr. of The Nation stated that Morse “was an inventor superimposed upon an artist,” it was factually true. 82 Equally true is that Morse could become an inventor because he was an artist all the while. In one of the final paintings that laid him flat, the painting that failed to secure his last attempt at a commission, one he had worked fifteen years to achieve, Morse may have left a clue about his shift from art to invention, and the fact that the skills required for both are the same. He painted The House of Representatives (1822–23) as evidence of his suitability for a commission from Congress to complete a suite of paintings that still adorn the U.S. Capitol building. The painting has an odd compositional focus. In the center is a man screwing in an oil chandelier, preoccupied with currents. Morse was “rejected beyond hope of appeal” by the congressional commission led by John Quincy Adams. When he toured the picture for seven weeks—displayed in a coffee house in Salem, Massachusetts, and at exhibitions in New York, Boston, Middleton, and Hartford, Connecticut—it lost twenty dollars in the first two weeks. Compounded by a litany of embarrassing, near-soul-stealing artistic failures, he took to his bed for weeks, “more seriously depressed than ever.” This final rejection forced him to shift his energies to his telegraph invention. 83 By 1844 Morse went to the Capitol focused on a current that would occupy the work of Congress—obtaining a patent for the telegraph.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Lewis" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-said-that-there-should-be-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-said-that-there-should-be-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/sarah-lewis-16690_art_sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-sai_141975.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said that there should be a “consilience” between art and science. 79…” — Sarah Lewis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sarah Lewis", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lewis/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson later said...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-said-that-there-should-be-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lewis/sociobiologist-edward-o-wilson-later-said-that-there-should-be-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```