Reweaving the Rainbow: interdisciplinary explorations in meteorology and the humanities

The poet John Keats famously lamented that Isaac Newton would "unweave the rainbow" by analyzing it, siphoning the beauty out of nature and replacing it with cold science. More recently, in the April 2002 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Kidder et al. discussed "Why Liberal Arts Colleges Need Meteorology and Oceanography."

Perhaps meteorology and oceanography need the liberal arts, too. In this talk, we describe the content, spirit and long-term impacts of the honors seminar "Reweaving the Rainbow," first taught at Valparaiso University and then repeated in condensed format at the University of Georgia. This seminar is an intentional attempt to approach meteorology from a humanist's perspective, and simultaneously to delve into the humanities from the point of view of an atmospheric scientist.

Questions to be addressed during this talk include: Do the "two cultures" of science and the humanities have to remain forever separate and unequal? Can equal justice be given to science and the humanities in a single class? Is interdisciplinary learning appealing to today's career-focused students? How can multimedia teaching techniques be used to enhance interdisciplinary learning? Does the value of this kind of interdisciplinary experience lie merely in its status as a "breather" in-between major-only courses, or does it have more long-lasting value?

The talk will contain liberal doses of Romantic poetry, prose, music, video, and theatre performance highlights.