The Molecular Aesthetics of Disease The Relationship of AIDS to the Scientific Imagination

Abstract: This paper shows how the simulated molecular forms of HIV prote-ase allow scientists to immerse themselves in the study of AIDS while simul-taneously serving their aesthetic needs. To unravel the aesthetic nature of the computationally rendered representation of HIV protease, an analysis of the aesthetic function and properties of molecules is undertaken, with particular emphasis on the properties of tension, elegance, and sublimity