As part of a continuing tradition, we invited faculty, staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences community to send us images this past spring that celebrated the magnificent beauty of science and the scientific process. Our goal was to find those moments where science and art become one and the same.
Scientific discovery often entails a visual aspect, as researchers graphically communicate their discoveries and explore the topics that inspire them. Darwin traced evolutionary trees in his notes, Hooke sketched his astronomical and microscopic observations, Franklin made X-ray diffraction images that were vital to determining the structure of DNA, and Feynman devised diagrams that helped transform theoretical physics, just to name a few.
More and more, scientific visualizations are becoming an integral part of the discovery process. Researchers use 3-D models and data visualizations to expose patterns hidden within data, to reveal the inner workings of life or to explain the very structure of the universe.
Below we feature six of the most stunning submissions from our scientific community. The first five images were chosen by committee based on their beauty and scientific merit. The final image, our People's Choice winner, was chosen by the public on our Facebook page. These images will be displayed in The University of Texas at Austin Tower, Welch Hall, and the Kuehne Physics Mathematics Astronomy Library in Robert Lee Moore Hall.
First Place
Second Place
Thermal infrared multispectral imaging is a reconnaissance technique that discriminates between carbonate and silicate minerals using their distinct infrared emissivity at wavelengths from 8 to 12 micrometers. Made with NASA's Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner, this image of the southern Providence mountains in California depicts diorite roof pendants in blue, gold-bearing quartz monzonite intrusions in red, and sedimentary carbonates juxtaposed by faulting in green. The Vulcan Mine, in the center field, is an iron skarn hosted in carbonates, and was mined during the second world war by Kaiser steel for shipbuilding. Numerous small bonanza gold mines dot the region. To appreciate the geologic power of this technique, go online and compare with an aerial color photograph. The technique has been employed over Mars, where it is impractical to map the entire planet with robots or geologists. – John Kuehne, PhD, Research Associate at McDonald Observatory (with special thanks to geologist Don Allen whose field work inspired the analysis).
Third Place
Honorable Mentions
People's Choice
The algae, Boergesenia forbesii, has balloon-shaped cells filled with fluid. These balloons are single cells that can grow to be about 3 cm long and can rapidly divide to form hundreds of smaller new cells in just a few hours when wounded. These algae have been used to study wound responses in cells. – Culture Collection of Algae.
Comments 2
where can we get high res downloads of the pictures shown? I would like to make this my background
We're looking into doing something like this, so stay tuned.