Ever since the romantic poet John Keats accused Newton of trying to unweave the rainbow in his poem Lamia, science and poetry have lost a common tongue. Listen to this wonderful podcast from ABC Radio National's Big Ideas Programmes entitled Weaving the Rainbow: The Poet and The Scientist Speak as two of Australia's leading cultural icons, Barry Jones and Les Murray discuss and share views on how science and arts might regain a shared language for wonder.
Les Murray
Australia's leading poet and recognised as one of the world's greatest contemporary poets. His work has been published in ten languages and he has won the Grace Leven Prize, the Petrarch Prize and the T.S. Eliot Award. Les Murray is 2010 CAL Writer in Residence at UTS.
Barry Jones
Writer, broadcaster and Australia's longest standing Science Minister. The only person to have been elected as a Fellow of all four Australian learned Academies, he has served on the Executive Board of UNESCO, was VP of the World Heritage Committee and is on the National Trust's list of Australian Living Treasures