“Physics students usually can’t see the forces between matter that they calculate during homework assignments. But in 1993, two computer scientists devised a Java applet (PDF) to make energy fields not only visible, but really rad-looking. Each year, John Belcher at MIT holds the “Weird Fields” contest among his physics students to see who can use the program to create the most aesthetically pleasing image by writing simple formulas for electromagnetism…”
Wired Magazine, March 17, 2004