BOOKS & MEDIA UPDATE
Picture thisFelice Frankel’s artful new book explains how to use images to communicateeffectively while capturing the wonder of science, says Jeremy G. Frey.
As the author states in her introduction, Envisioning
Science is about the kind of scientific image that
communicates information effectively both to
colleagues and to the general public. The amazing
impact generated by the transition from a flat image
used in a laboratory notebook to an image that
captures the marvel of the phenomena, explains why
this process is sometimes referred to as ‘Art’. Many of
the images in the book could indeed grace the walls of
a gallery, but they are not created at the whim of the
photographer. They are honest interpretations of the
results of scientific investigations, and are used to
communicate the importance of the observations in a
manner that truly fulfills the
aphorism ‘a picture is worth a
thousand words’. Envisioning
Science explains how to achieve
this marvel.
Frankel’s work has appeared on
the front cover of many of the
world’s major journals. Her first
book, On the Surface of Things,
written with George Whitesides,
gave us a glimpse of her
abilities. The details of the
techniques used to photograph
these images were briefly given
at the end of that book. In
Envisioning Science, we find out
much more about how Frankel
works.
There is a danger that readers of the book will think
that the images are like those we see in cookery books
– fantastic looking dishes that look much better on the
page then we can ever get them to look in the kitchen!
But this is just the book we need. We are shown how
to make images that do not just look impressive, but
serve the job of communicating the ideas or principles
of the scientific research behind the object being
photographed. With the advice of this book, and with
practice, we should all be able to produce much better
images of our work (even if not quite a superb as
those shown).
While the thrust of the book is about the use of
photography through many different devices, the
basics of picture making would apply equally well to
both conventional photography and computer graphic
creations. The photographic techniques covered in the
book include the direct use of a 35 mm camera, and
photography through stereo- and compound
microscopes to look at images down to the micron
scale. There is a section on digitally altering images,
for example coloring scanning electron microscope
(SEM) images. The book also contains an interesting
introductory chapter by Phylis Morrison giving a
historical perspective. The final chapter has useful
advice on how to keep and use your images.
The shape of the book is unusual but the layout is
friendly to the reader. The text refers to the relevant
images in the conventional manner (e.g. figure 6.39);
there are over three hundred images in
the book’s 335 pages. The presence of
the figure numbers on the left hand side
of each page of text makes it easy to
find the text relevant to any given
image. This bi-directional link between
the images and the text is further
enhanced by the 30-page visual index in
addition to a quite detailed conventional
text index. Even the contents pages
abound with colorful and dramatic
images.
The book is produced to a very high
standard on high quality paper and a
study binding; a very important aspect of
a book that will be referred to frequently
and used open in the laboratory. There
are a number of exercises provided for
each of the main chapters to bring out some of the
points made. These would also be useful if the book
was being used as a course text. Such a course would
certainly be a very useful addition to science graduate
studies.
This is a book full of amazing images and details of
how to create them, showing how to present your
own exciting observations as effectively as the
examples. I recommend this book most highly to
anyone who wants to know how to communicate their
work visually.
Jeremy G. Frey is a senior lecturer in chemistry at the
University of Southampton, UK.
Felice FrankelEnvisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image (2002),The MIT Press, 335 pp., ISBN: 0-262-06225-9 $55 / £36.95
December 2002 59
From Bakelite tocomposite – design innew materials
Design Museum GentGent, Belgium
The history of the use of fiber-reinforced materials in consumerproducts, and the influence ofcomposites on design in the second halfof the 20th century, are the subjects ofthis new exhibition. The stiffness,lightness, and freedom of shape thatcomposite materials afford have madethem a favorite of designers andengineers. Focusing on the use ofcomposites in furniture, lighting,construction, cars, bikes, andsportswear, the exhibition includes aFerrari, bullet-proof jackets, and anairplane.
Until 23rd February.
Art in the making –underdrawings inRenaissance paintings
National GalleryLondon, UK
Modern technology is allowing thepreliminary drawings hidden beneaththe surface of many paintings to berevealed. In this exhibition, images ofthese underdrawings are displayed nextto important paintings fromRenaissance Europe. The images, whichare recorded digitally using infraredreflectography and processed by acomputer program developed at thegallery, give fascinating insights into theway artists worked. Some paintingsunderwent dramatic changes ofcomposition, and some workshops usedtracings and stock patterns to producereplicas routinely. Works by Bruegel,Raphael, Altdorfer, Memling, and Crivelliare included.
Until 16th February.
Homepage
Felice Frankel’s webpageshttp://web.mit.edu/felicef/
These webpages are the place to findout about Felice Frankel’s use of imagesto communicate science effectively fordifferent audiences. Frankel is a researchscientist at the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology (MIT), but alsocollaborates with scientists to createimages for presentations andpublications. Using some of herfantastic images, and web design that iseasy on the eye, this site makes mostother homepages an embarrassment.Contact details are not included.