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Seeing Science

How Photography Reveals the Universe
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( 14 ratings, 1 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Seeing Science explores photography's essential role in visualising scientific knowledge across scales—from the microscopic to the cosmic. This collection features over three hundred images and sixty concise essays revealing how photography not only aids scientific discovery but also shapes public understanding of science. By bridging the worlds of art and science, the book highlights photography’s ability to make the invisible visible and enrich our perception of the natural world.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in the intersection of science and visual culture, including art lovers, scientists, educators, and anyone curious about how photographic imagery shapes our understanding of scientific discovery.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

  • Photography's critical role in science explained
  • Subjects range from facial recognition to outer space
  • For everyone curious about the impact of photography on our lives

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Seeing Science offers an insightful and reader-friendly collection of essays and pictures about photography's role in visualising science and building human knowledge—from micro to macro levels and everything in between.

Photography and science have long been intertwined, helping to shape the way we look at the world. Scientists use photography as a way to gather information, explore, and learn, but just as important, photography is also used to promote scientific advances and has long served as an interface between the sciences and the public. Our understanding of outer space depends on images sent to Earth from the Hubble Space Telescope, just as our understanding of our own bodies depends on X-rays. Images make visible what lies beyond human perception.

Science is less an edifice of facts than a process of discovery and inquiry. In this way, it is not dissimilar to art; artists have engaged with some of the same scientific principles, using photography to imagine the world differently and present us with new experiences and ways of seeing. This volume presents both perspectives exploring how science is made perceptible, featuring over three hundred images and sixty short texts. Together they engage readers in a timely exploration of the extent to which our knowledge is formed and transformed through our interactions with photographic imagery.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Nature praises the book for its breadth and curator Marvin Heiferman's ability to distil complex scientific fields like ornithology, astronomy, and genomics into a visually rich, accessible volume spanning just 224 pages. The review highlights the inclusion of works by celebrated photographers such as Felice Frankel and Rosalind Franklin, emphasising the book's insightful tour through science’s visual history.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781597114479

Publisher: Aperture

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 May 2019

Country: United States

Imprint: Aperture

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Scott Kelly

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Weight: 1020g

Pages: 224

About the Author

Marvin Heiferman (author) creates projects about photography and visual culture for institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, International Center of Photography, Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Heiferman has written for numerous publications, monographs, magazines and blogs, including The New York Times, CNN, Artforum, Design Observer, Art in America, and Aperture. He is the author/editor of over two dozen books on visual culture, including Photography Changes Everything (Aperture/Smithsonian, 2012). Scott Kelly is a retired NASA astronaut best known for spending a record-breaking year in space. He is a former US Navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and veteran of four spaceflights. Kelly commanded the space shuttle Endeavour in 2007 and commanded the International Space Station for three expeditions. He resides in Houston, Texas.

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