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Dr Beau Lotto, a neuroscientist specialising in perception research, has for years wowed the world of science with work that blurs the boundaries between neuroscience and the arts. Now, as well as bending the science of perception – and our perceptions of what science can be – he is trying to transform the way people think about themselves and also the world around them.
Beau Lotto grew up in Seattle but has lived in the UK since 1994, excluding three years of postdoctoral research at Duke University, North Carolina. In 2001, hewas appointed to UCL’s Institute of Ophthalmologyas a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience, becoming Reader in 2006. Beau recently joined UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Beau Lotto’s lab at UCL has never followed a traditional path. Lottolab’s perception research encompasses not only human vision, but also bee and robot vision, as all three shed light on the way humans see the world. Bringing such disparate spheres of thought together goes against academic convention, but Beau goes further by breaking down boundaries not just within his own discipline but between disciplines. Lottolab has morphed into a hybrid lab-art studio producing stunning visual illusions and installations that have been included in exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery, the Serpentine and Dublin’s Science Gallery, among others. Beau’s intention is to use his installations and illusions to introduce to people the idea that our perceptions are responses grounded in history, and that it’s only through this awareness that we can have the freedom to think, to choose and even create differently.
It is this fundamental drive to have an impact on people’s lives that is behind much of Beau Lotto’s work today. He is currently developing a series of public programmes aimed at involving people from all walks of life, from disadvantaged young people to business leaders, either as participants in or even creators of perception research. One such programme led to the publication of the first ever peer-reviewed scientific paper written by schoolchildren (Blackawton Bees, December 2010).
Crucial to Beau’s ambitious plan of public engagement and social innovation was Lottolab’s ground-breaking move into London’s Science Museum,in 2010. Beau’s hope is that the public’s direct involvement in science can be a life-enhancing experience, making a person more creative, more confident with uncertainty, more collaborative, more compassionate… he is not short of ambition when it comes to the potential power of his brand of ‘live science’.
Beau’s experimentalist, visionary approach to science has won him a wide audience, which has broadened dramatically with significant contributions to two episodes of the BBC’s ‘Horizon’ programme. His illusions are also used by many other scientists, artists, teachers and science museums internationally.
Beau has lectured at the TED series, RSA series, and the BBC, and also given talks at the Royal College of Arts, Cheltenham Science Festival, Wellcome Trust and Harvard University. He uses illusions, games and plenty of interaction to engage his audience, and he is skilled at communicating with people from all walks of life.
Beau Lotto’s lab at UCL has never followed a traditional path. Lottolab’s perception research encompasses not only human vision, but also bee and robot vision, as all three shed light on the way humans see the world. Bringing such disparate spheres of thought together goes against academic convention, but Beau goes further by breaking down boundaries not just within his own discipline but between disciplines. Lottolab has morphed into a hybrid lab-art studio producing stunning visual illusions and installations that have been included in exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery, the Serpentine and Dublin’s Science Gallery, among others. Beau’s intention is to use his installations and illusions to introduce to people the idea that our perceptions are responses grounded in history, and that it’s only through this awareness that we can have the freedom to think, to choose and even create differently.
It is this fundamental drive to have an impact on people’s lives that is behind much of Beau Lotto’s work today. He is currently developing a series of public programmes aimed at involving people from all walks of life, from disadvantaged young people to business leaders, either as participants in or even creators of perception research. One such programme led to the publication of the first ever peer-reviewed scientific paper written by schoolchildren (Blackawton Bees, December 2010).
Crucial to Beau’s ambitious plan of public engagement and social innovation was Lottolab’s ground-breaking move into London’s Science Museum,in 2010. Beau’s hope is that the public’s direct involvement in science can be a life-enhancing experience, making a person more creative, more confident with uncertainty, more collaborative, more compassionate… he is not short of ambition when it comes to the potential power of his brand of ‘live science’.
Beau’s experimentalist, visionary approach to science has won him a wide audience, which has broadened dramatically with significant contributions to two episodes of the BBC’s ‘Horizon’ programme. His illusions are also used by many other scientists, artists, teachers and science museums internationally.
Beau has lectured at the TED series, RSA series, and the BBC, and also given talks at the Royal College of Arts, Cheltenham Science Festival, Wellcome Trust and Harvard University. He uses illusions, games and plenty of interaction to engage his audience, and he is skilled at communicating with people from all walks of life.
