CURIOSITIES

The solar system plays "True Love Waits" by Radiohead: a researcher's incredible discovery

Would you have ever guessed that our sad, depressing, lifeless solar system sounds exactly like Radiohead? We didn't believe it either, and yet that's exactly what it is, as research carried out by Matt Russo, an astrophysicist and musician from Seneca College in Toronto, and his team has shown.

Already 2500 years ago, Pythagoras theorised that the rotation of the planets could have a kind of sound, imperceptible to the human ear. Russo, a scientist and musician, converted the NASA data into musical notes, resulting in a melody very reminiscent of Radiohead's historic song 'True Love Waits'.

This song is also the saddest ever composed by Thom Yorke's band, and fits well with the desolation of our universe.

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The solar system plays "True Love Waits" by Radiohead: a researcher's incredible discovery
Would you ever have guessed that our sad, depressing, lifeless solar system sounds exactly like Radiohead? We didn't believe it either, and yet that's exactly what it is, as research carried out by Matt Russo, an astrophysicist and musician from Seneca College in Toronto, and his team has shown. Already 2500 years ago, Pythagoras theorised that the rotation of the planets could have a kind of sound, imperceptible to the human ear. Russo, a scientist and musician, converted the NASA data into musical notes, resulting in a melody very reminiscent of Radiohead's historic song 'True Love Waits'. This song is also the saddest ever composed by Thom Yorke's band, and fits well with the desolation of our universe.
Pexels
"True Love Waits" by Radiohead played by the planets
Have you ever wondered what sound the planets and asteroids around us make? Surprisingly, a scientist at a Canadian college wondered, and the answer left everyone stunned: in fact, the sounds the planets make in their rotational motion sounds remarkably like Radiohead's 'True Love Waits', a song that was in their repertoire back in the mid-1990s, and first released on their latest 2016 album 'A moon-shaped pool'.
By Staff www.Montescaglioso.net - http://www.montescaglioso.net/image/tid/94, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://
Pythagoras had already understood the sound of the planets.
About 2,500 years ago Pythagoras, considered one of the fathers of astronomy, had guessed that the rotation of the planets on their own axis and in the entire cosmos produced a harmony, not perceptible to the human ear. Pythagoras had also already understood the existing correlation between mathematics and musical notes, and now from experimental science came confirmation.
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Matt Russo's work
This discovery is due to the work of Matt Russo, an astrophysicist and musician from Seneca College in Toronto, and his team. This research dates back to 2018, but these days social networks are rediscovering it. Reported by the Italian newspaper Repubblica, this was the researcher's comment: 'Our solar system is cold, mostly lifeless and a bit depressing. So not surprisingly, it loves Radiohead'.
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How do the planets sound
The scientist explained that if the planets rotated eight million times faster, then the melody would even be audible to the human ear. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, it was noted, formed a C maj7 chord, while the corresponding bass line was provided by the asteroid belt present between Mars and Jupiter.
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The result you get is "True Love Waits"
A website was also designed to explain the discovery, in which there was also a video to listen to the sound of our solar system. What you get is, for real, "True Love Waits" by Radiohead, probably the saddest song ever made by the band of Thom Yorke.
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Matt Russo's comment
Also reported by Repubblica, the researcher talked about the moment when he noticed the similarity with the song by the English band: "When I listened to it, it was in the right key and very close to the tempo of "True Love Waits" which immediately came to my mind. It was almost identical to the introduction of the song, same exact harmony, same notes."
By michell zappa - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3279836
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Oxfordshire who formed in 1985. Until 1992, when they changed their name, they were known as On a Friday. They have sold around 40 million records worldwide. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, synthesiser, piano, Martenot Waves), Ed O'Brien (guitar, percussion, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (electric bass, synthesisers) and Philip Selway (drums, percussion).
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How the study was conducted
Russo and his team took data from NASA on the rotation of the planets and converted them into musical compositions. The orbital data from the planets and asteroids were then processed by a very sophisticated software, and it was discovered that this data produced a certain note each time a given planet passed a certain point in space. In this way, it was possible to create a sequence of notes and rhythm, thus creating a harmony.
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