Thinking knotty thoughts
Written by John Macpherson
Celtic knot. © John MacPherson
I wrote a piece last year called The Knots that Bind Us, exploring the ties of family and religion. I thought the knot metaphor an apt one, neatly illustrating the curling and linking connections that life creates.
Seems I’m not alone in considering the significance of knots. The Leverhulme Trust have included in their 2013 Research Programme Grant Topics, the subject: The Nature of Knots:
Recently there has been an upsurge of interest in how Nature may be knotted, and what the consequences of knottedness might be……….. On the smallest scales there has been a realisation that quantum fields may be knotted, and on the largest stage ideas have been explored concerning knots in structures on cosmological scales.
These theoretical and experimental challenges have connected biologists, chemists, computer scientists, cosmologists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists. It may be that there are links with other areas of science to be opened up. Some of the goals include uncovering the unifying and organising ideas that underpin knottedness in nature; establishing mathematical methods for quantifying knottedness; measuring experimentally and developing techniques to control knottedness; and identifying the scientific and technological consequences and implications of knottedness. Perhaps there would also be interest and value in exploring connections between the nature of knots in the sciences and those in the arts and humanities, whether in aesthetic, philosophical or religious terms.
Oh yes, a minimum of £500,000 and a maximum of £1.75 million is available for the support of work extending over periods of up to five years. If you can string it out that long of course. But when you’ve got everything from a bandage to bondage to play with I doubt that’ll be a problem.
Oh, and one wee tip, if you’re lucky enough to get an interview – wear a tie.
Author — John Macpherson
John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.