{"455611":{"#nid":"455611","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Einstein Comes to Georgia Tech:  Latest Arts Acquisition Brings Robert Berks\u0027 Monument to Campus","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELast week, we hosted the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.arts.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EOffice of the Arts\u003C\/a\u003E Advisory Board meeting, bringing together staff, alumni, and friends of Georgia Tech who share a love for the arts, but also a vision for how the variety of arts programming at Georgia Tech can inspire, excite, and enrich the student experience. In the words of Russell Medford, MD, one of our board members, the Arts@Tech initiative is about\u003Cem\u003E \u201dproducing a new global citizen that is multi-dimensional in thought, capable of redefining science and art of the possible, and is committed to building a better world.\u201d\u003C\/em\u003E In just a few short years, the initiative has spearheaded many efforts from the acquisition of public art now visible around the campus, a partnership with the ArtCrawl and a reinvigorated Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, to special exhibits of various kinds, and new and unique musical and theatrical performances.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe latest of these initiatives is the recent acquisition of the final cast of Robert Berks\u2019 monument to Albert Einstein.\u0026nbsp; The other installations of Berks\u2019 sculptures of Einstein are located at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem.\u0026nbsp; On Friday, October 23, as thousands of alumni and students converge on campus to celebrate homecoming, we will officially dedicate the final cast of Berk\u2019s Einstein sculpture right here on campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAtlanta resident and Berks collector, Jim Barksdale, first brought the idea to Georgia Tech after learning the final cast was available. Jim was particularly passionate about Einstein\u2019s legacy as a human rights advocate, and thought Atlanta and Georgia Tech represented the perfect place for the cast to call its new home.\u0026nbsp; We couldn\u2019t agree more, and Jim\u2019s generous cornerstone gift was instrumental in bringing Einstein to Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEinstein was so much more than one of the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E century\u2019s most brilliant and original physicists, he was also a tireless and highly visible advocate for peace and social justice.\u0026nbsp; Georgia Tech and Atlanta embody science and civil and human rights like no other institution and city in the world.\u0026nbsp; It is fitting that we will be the home of this unique piece of public art.\u0026nbsp; The monument consists of a larger-than-life bronze of the famous scientist holding a book with the famous equations that brought together energy and matter and space and time \u2013 effectively redefining physics, and reminding us that we are just one small expression of an extraordinary universe whose beginning and end we still seek to understand.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe design of a sitting Einstein and the science allegory is common to all three existing monuments. But our Einstein is unique in that he gazes down to a black granite platform with the exact replica of the night sky over Atlanta on December 10, 1948 \u2013 \u0026nbsp;the day of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEngraved on the granite steps are two quotes representing Einstein the scientist and the\u0026nbsp; humanist. \u0026nbsp;Most fittingly, one of the quotes is pulled from Article I of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reads, \u201cAll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe excitement surrounding the Einstein project has been, in my experience, unprecedented. What began as an idea, quickly transitioned into a highly successful campaign for resources, and the support continues. Honestly, I have never seen a project generate this much support in such a small amount of time. Many friends and alumni followed Jim Barksdale\u2019s example and donated generously to the effort, sufficient to cover all costs and hopefully, as it continues, to fund annual programs around the subject matter that the monument evokes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Class of 1966 recently voted to make the project the subject of their 50\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E year class gift. Their initial goal was reached the day they made the decision. Fittingly they have decided to raise the goal, which will make all our aspirations for the impact of the Einstein piece on the campus and community come true.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnquestionably, the Einstein Monument at Georgia Tech will become a fitting icon for what we represent: science, technology and the betterment of the human condition.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn Friday, October 23, as thousands of alumni and students converge on campus to celebrate homecoming, we will officially dedicate the final cast of Robert Berk\u2019s Einstein sculpture right here on campus.\u0026nbsp;Georgia Tech and Atlanta embody science and civil\/human rights like no other institution and city in the nation. \u0026nbsp;It is fitting that we will be the home of this unique piece of public art. \u0026nbsp;Unquestionably, the Einstein Monument at Georgia Tech will become a fitting icon for what we represent: science, technology and the betterment of the human condition.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"On Friday, October 23, as thousands of alumni and students converge on campus to celebrate homecoming, we will officially dedicate the final cast of Robert Berk\u2019s Einstein sculpture right here on campus."}],"uid":"27165","created_gmt":"2015-10-05 14:23:07","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:43","author":"Susie Ivy","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-10-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-10-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"455641":{"id":"455641","type":"image","title":"Einstein","body":null,"created":"1449256334","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:12:14","changed":"1475895194","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:14","alt":"Einstein","file":{"fid":"203350","name":"b16c6102b_einstein_invitation_09.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/b16c6102b_einstein_invitation_09_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/b16c6102b_einstein_invitation_09_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":652673,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/b16c6102b_einstein_invitation_09_0.jpg?itok=XkMiShu8"}}},"media_ids":["455641"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/arts.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of the Arts"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/art-genius","title":"The Art of Genius"}],"groups":[{"id":"131901","name":"Provost"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1738","name":"blog"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:susie.ivy@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESusie Ivy\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-3782\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["susie.ivy@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}