The Creative Process: Creativity Without Borders

Floris Visser postulates that scientists are artists – and his opinion hit a nerve for me. An opinion that also fits perfectly in my series about the Creative process.

Too often, we seem to draw a line between the professions and interests. However, when we take a step back, there are common grounds. Just like artists, scientists need to be very creative people in order to make discoveries and advance their field.

The very essence of science is as creative as art – but also the outcome and the observations in science can show an artistic beauty. You might think, for example, of beautiful repetitive patterns in nature, which can either inspire scientists and researchers to take a similar step (remember the bacteria in self-healing concrete that are inspired by the terraces of Pamukkale?) or can inspire artists to achieve, amongst others, the perfect proportions which we see repeated in nature.

You can improve your creativity by developing your creative habit. But today, I’m asking you to take this idea one step further. I’d like to invite you to share a link between art or nature and your profession or research topic in the comments section below. Please share, and inspire others!

This post is an adaptation of an earlier post for TEDx Delft