Students Combine Science with Art

Eighty-six grade 7 science students combined their artistic talents with math skills to create a 72” x 52” recreation of an iconic portrait of Isaac Newton. The idea was created as a physics-art collaboration between middle school science instructor Raji Swaminathan and fine arts instructor Elizabeth Saltos. Using the same grid-enlargement method Raphael used to create his frescoes 500 years ago, the students were each given a 1″ x 1″ image, which they had to enlarge to a 6.5” x 6.5” inch square. After 88 squares were completed, the students taped them together to form a portrait of Newton surrounded by many of his inventions and scientific contributions. Said Swaminathan, “This whole semester, seventh graders hear more about Newton than anybody else, and this project is something hopefully that they will remember in their 30s and 40s.”