Tag Archives: our friend the atom

The Disney Aesthetic

Our Friend the Atom

This is the cover of a Disney book from the mid 50s (56-57), companion to a short film. I haven’t seen it myself, but I’d like to. Matt Springer describes it:

It’s one of the things that made me so interested in physics. Well, actually I suppose the cover looks more Russian Constructivist, but I’m no art critic. The interior contains a solidly Art Deco inspired Futurist aesthetic. That’s what today was supposed to look like back then. The science in the book is quite solid as well. In fact, I’d like to scan some of the pages and write a series of posts on it. It really did manage to inspire a sense of wonderment, which is pretty amazing for a book about the history and applications of atomic physics. Will we ever see that kind of optimistic vision of science again?