Gorka Alda : Composer et sound artist

Let me say a few words about the presence of music and sound effects in the videos of the online course Gravity!. I am a great believer that science and art have a common goal, which is to raise our understanding of the Universe outside and inside us (the outer and inner space). Artists have their specific means and sometimes have their own shortcuts to comprehend concepts or ideas that we physicists painfully identify after lengthy computations. So it was essential for me to involve artists in the conception of this course.

Gorka Alda

This is why I asked Gorka Alda, a contemporary music composer, to write an original score. A very unusual decision, as you may imagine. Another reason is that I find annoying the type of commercial music that tends to be associated with astrophysics. But why should there be music at all in a course like this? I know that has disturbed some, especially those with a good scientific background. Well, precisely for all the other learners: it provides a sort of familiar background which, after a while, helps to focus on the video content, and unconsciously relates some concepts with others (we specifically worked on that aspect with Gorka).

Pierre Binétruy,  Gravity! online course designer.