Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wednesday Wonder: Art in Science

Two weeks ago I profiled Harvard chemist George Whitesides's effort to devise effective, low-cost point-of-care diagnostics to improve health care delivery in undeveloped and developing nations. That post is here.

Since then, I've come across his new book No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale, co-written with science photographer Felice C. Frankel, senior research fellow, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. The book, published by Harvard's Belknap Press (November 2009), contains gorgeous photographs and illustrations of micro- and nanostructures — hidden reality at its most minute scale.

Take a look at 17 images from the book, presented in a slideshow here, and consider the wonder of what we don't see: the art in science.

Whitesides was awarded the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute. A video interview with the recipient is available here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i liked looking at the photos

Louise Gallagher said...

What incredible images Maureen. Beauty is all around. In the smallest of sights and moments.

Thank you so much for sharing this!

Billy Coffey said...

Those were wondrous. Simply amazing.

L.L. Barkat said...

I love the art in science. So intricate. Often so surprising.

Judith van Praag said...

Maureen,
Thanks for the link. I've marveled over art in science before it's always fascinating. In the sequence some of the chosen photos seem to hardly qualify as Art in Science, such as the photo of the maple(?) leaves. I wonder why those were added.