A Biography of Our Sun From Ancient Myths and Artifacts to Modern Art and Astrophysics

This book is for everyone curious about the Sun and how it has been perceived throughout human history, including the modern scientific view. Beginning with ancient myths and legends, superstitions, art and poetry, the book proceeds to explain the amazing composition of our star, how it produces the heat and light on which all life depends, as well as touching the harvesting of solar energy that is becoming so essential in the modern world. The book is illustrated by the author's own artwork and includes first-hand scientific information provided in interviews with professional astrophysicists.

Chapter 1. A Brief Introduction to the Sun.- Chapter 2. Prehistory and the Beginning of History.- Chapter 3. Across the Ocean.- Chapter 4. The Old World.- Chapter 5. Asia.- Chapter 6. The Middle Ages.- Chapter 7. Rebirth.- Chapter 8. The Age of Enlightenment.- Chapter 9. Space, the Last Frontier.- Chapter 10. Contemporary Myths and Art Inspired by the Sun.- Chapter 11. Solar Energy.- Chapter 12. This Is the End.

Laura Pesce is a visual artist specializing in glass sculpture. She graduated from the University of Arizona in art history and art studies. After graduation, she chose studio work over an academic carrier, and specializing mostly in contemporary glass sculptures and mixed media installations. Currently her work is shown in a number of museums and galleries throughout Europe and the Americas. 

Museums:

Palazzo blù, museum of contemporary art, Pisa, Italy

Complesso museale di Badia a Isola, Siena, Italy,

Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy

Fortezza da Basso, Firenze, Italy

University museum of Utrecht, Holland (The beauty of Mathematics)

Tohono Chul, Folk Art Museum, Arizona, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Art and Science)

Centro Cultural Laurinda Santos Lobos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Biennale di Firenze, Fortezza da Basso, Firenze, Italy

Galleries:

Glass Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Vespermann gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Philabaum glass gallery, Tucson, Arizona

Pismo contemporary glass, Denver, Colorado, USA

Faru folk art gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri

Gallery Borgward, Bremen, Germany

Travelling exhibitions for Art and Science: Arezzo, Siena, Firenze.

Others:

Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

For the UNICEF USA

For Art Glass International in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich, Germany

 For Art Glass International, Tucson, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Her fascination for physics and mathematics was influenced by her husband Thomas Elze, a theoretical physicist, who inspired her to express concepts from physics and astrophysics in visual Art, as also through writing. "Close encounter of Art and Physics, an artist view", is her previous book on this subject, published by Springer in 2019. Laura Pesce lives and works in Tuscany, Italy.