News from The Arthur Holt Library
This week, The Arthur Holt Library has been busy celebrating Science Week. The theme for this year was glass, which lends itself to all manner of scientific exploration, from the invention of the microscope, to light prisms, fibre optic cables, lenses and even glass blowing.
We organised for Mark Eliott, a contemporary artist who works primarily in flame blown glass, to come to the school and demonstrate the techniques that he uses in crafting his sculptures. Mark works with borosilicate glass, or scientific glass, because of its clarity and malleability and he used it to sculpt a figure of a bird for the boys and explained to them how the beakers and test tubes that they use in their classrooms are crafted by hand.
The AHL also organised a series of daily science conundrums linked to the theme of glass. Staff and students were invited to answer such questions as ‘What natural forms of glass did Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people use to make cutting tools?’ and ‘What temperature must glass be heated to before it can be shaped by a glass blower?’ The winner of each conundrum was invited to the library to receive a science-themed book.
We also enlisted the help of the Trinity Archives in building a series of displays that included everything from glasses of varying strength and old glass bottles to marbles and books that feature the word ‘glass’ in their title (Through the Looking Glass, The Glass Throne… you get the idea).
“Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again.”
– Ray Bradbury
