LEADING LIGHT

Humanity has always been fascinated by light. Fire gave us warmth, better tasting food, and vision in the night. The Greeks named Apollo and Artemis as gods of the lights that shone in the day and night. Many cultures celebrate the solstice as a moment of change, the ushering of a new season. Lamps and light bulbs let us work, play, and travel in the darkness. Laser beams let us etch metal, plastic, even our corneas. Fiber optic networks allow us to connect to a near-infinite network of people, information, and experiences.

Modern physics has enabled us to turn light into microscopic tweezers, able to hold, arrange, and manipulate matter at the atomic level. Like a Border Collie herding goats, scientists can wrangle wild, untamed individual atoms into structured 2D and 3D lattices using quantum entanglement. These lattices open the door for technological breakthroughs—with quantum computing. Just like how focusing light into microlasers can create powerful tweezers, organized women also have great power through their unyielding focus.

In “Leading Light”, we see this the science of quantum optics manifested as group of women focusing their energy to manipulate matter. This scene embodies the potential of modern physics and the power of perception and perseverance. Whether it’s a journalist’s careful investigation, a parent’s watchful eye, or a woman’s pursuit of a perplexing research question or world-changing goal, their focus is their strength.

In this mural, viewers are reminded that attention is love and collective focus is power. 

This mural was inspired by the research of Dr. Cindy Regal.

Artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya invited the DAVA Arts youth to the site to participate in the making of the mural and hear about the science that inspired it.