Jim Gubernatis - Physicist, Los Alamos
Artist
Anna Christine Hansen
Date1988
Mediumchromogenic color print
Dimensions20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotography
Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, museum purchase, 1989 General Obligation Bonds
Object numberPC1990.69.46
DescriptionThis color photograph is of the physicist Jim Gubernatis with a written inscription and signature by Gubernatis underneath. Gubernatis is seated in a chair posing in front of a desk and a computer.The inscription reads:
Reality is something I rarely think about, but when I do, I find it is nothing about which I am preoccupied. This preoccupation unconsciously assumed several different viewpoints. As a scientist what I regard as real is what is observable in the sense that it is measurable. No matter how strongly I believe something exists or is true, i.e. real, from the viewpoint of a scientist I would say that unless it is in principle verifiable, it is something that is at least probable. This viewpoint is not the one I assume in appreciating the beauty of science, nourishing interpersonal relationships, or believing in god. Here my "view" of reality is more difficult to define but still leads to "certitude" that I imagine I know is real even though I cannot "prove" it. What is important is knowing that what I imagine can sometimes only be unreal. I guess "reality" is that which allows me to know what is unreal. I know what is unreal not only by reason but also by faith, intuition,... This knowledge almost always involves a sharing of experiences, feelings, an [sic] knowledge. This sharing, or the existence of others, is how I am probably "grounded' in reality, and if I thought about it, probably helps to define my view of reality. I rarely think about it.
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