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Article: Painting by numbers: three scientific sleuths calculated when Vincent van Gogh created one of his famous paintings.(Earth)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- November 21, 2003
- Author:
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The year before he died, Vincent van Gogh created a painting now called Moonrise. In vivid colors and the artist's distinct brushstrokes, Moonrise shows a full moon rising above a golden wheat field. A cliff hides part of the moon, and a farmhouse sits cozily in the distance.
It's a beautiful painting--and a mysterious one. Does it show a real scene, or was it mostly a product of van Gogh's strange imagination?
Answering that question was right up the alley of science sleuth Don Olson, an astronomer at Texas State University in San Marcos. If a mystery involves planets, stars, or other celestial objects, Olson is on it! Olson loves using science to ...