THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE.

Both posts this week are about our place in the universe. In this animation, we zoom out in increments of ten (every ten seconds) from an overhead view of a couple in a Chicago park, to the edge of the known universe, then zoom back in to enter the nucleus of an atom inside a person’s hand. Charles and Ray Eames, the influential American designers, released the final version of their project in 1977. It was based on the book “Cosmic View” (1957) by Kees Boeke. See the film here: https://goo.gl/DHFCci

“Powers of Ten” might not seem so ground-breaking today, but it was made long before the existence of Google Earth and the level of computer effects that we’re all so familiar with.
There have been many references to this project in pop culture. Here’s an intro to “The Simpsons”: https://goo.gl/zcc4Us

And the ending sequence of “Men in Black”: https://goo.gl/zjrRSy

A 2012 version by Danail Obreschkow: https://goo.gl/2kKQ9j

The book version by Philip and Phylis Morrison was published in 1982. (Philip narrated the 1977 film.) The sequence is shown on 42 right-hand pages. Zooming inwards, from one billion light-years out in space to the components of an atom. A few of those steps are shown below.

New approach
This book by Caleb Scharf with diagrams by 5W Infographics and illustrations by Ron Miller, is a new approach to the “Powers of Ten” idea. https://goo.gl/na4jMg