Felice Frankel
Scientific Discovery Through Visualization
A 3-cm drop of ferrofluid on a glass slide. A slip of yellow paper sits below the slide and a set of seven small circular magnets under the paper affects the form of the drop.
As one of the world’s leading science photographers, Felice Frankel combines a scholar’s knowledge of science, a photographer’s skill for visualization, and a designer’s intuitive sense of aesthetics.
She started out as a biologist and lab technician. She later became a landscape and architectural photographer, earned a fellowship in design at Harvard University, and went on to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an artist in residence, eventually becoming a research scientist in the School of Science. In July, she became Senior Research Fellow at Harvard, as part of the new Initiative in Innovative Computing, while maintaining a part-time office at MIT's Center for Materials Science and Engineering as a research scientist.
Frankel works with many of the world’s premier scientists by documenting stunning examples of their research. Her work is beautiful, accurate, and — most importantly — communicates results and inspires ideas. She uses her Mac to create images that have graced numerous covers of the world’s most respected journals, including Nature and Science. A recipient of grants and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Frankel is also the author of “Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image” and the co-author with George M. Whitesides of “On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science.” A follow-up, “No Small Matter,” will be published by Harvard University Press.
Her tools for turning impenetrable data into meaningful visual representations that are also striking works of art include Apple hardware, Mac OS X, and visualization software.
“It is the computer and its amazing power that have given us insight that we would never have realized. It has truly changed the way science has developed and will continue to develop.”
In science photography, “truth telling” is the key component of every project. The workflow must be a carefully documented and controlled process. Analysis takes place sitting in front of the computer. And having the right tools on hand is crucial to making this process efficient and enjoyable.
Frankel and Her PowerBooks
Frankel’s PowerBook G4 — she has three of them — goes everywhere she goes. During her rare stationary moments in the office, she uses a Power Mac G4 with an Apple Cinema Display. Her decision to use the Mac was simple. “There is no question that using a Mac is more intuitive,” she says. “It’s just logical.” But it goes even beyond that. “Frankly, there is something about the design of Apple’s products,” she adds. “You can feel that these people know that design is important, so we all must be part of the same community. There is something relevant about using a beautiful piece of equipment when you are working with a subject that is, in itself, beautiful.”
In “Envisioning Science,” she suggests that the methods scientists use in representing visual data should be fully documented, just as those for gathering non-visual data are. “It’s time that graphics and images are taken just as seriously as explanation with text,” Frankel says. The reader must be provided with a visual history illustrating how the data was translated into its published form. “I think it’s finally beginning to happen,” she says. “Recently, for example, Nature has developed a set of new guidelines on how to submit images, addressing this point and also emphasizing the need for less manipulation.”
The first image is the scientist’s initial cut (photo by Nicholas Abbott). In the second, Frankel combined ultraviolet and tungsten lights with fluorescing dyes in the water squares. Each square drop of water measures 4mm. The image appeared on the cover of Science.
Frankel’s first cover for Science shows how a science photographer can turn a scientist’s results into a visualization both captivating and communicative. George M. Whitesides, a world-renowned scientist at Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, brought the initial image to Frankel. The new image communicates the chemistry and at the same time clarifies the science for Whitesides.
Aperture’s nondestructive image processing, which retains original RAW data as a digital “master,” along with powerful versioning capabilities, helps photographers preserve their workflow and accurately cite the image-creation process.
“I like the fact that I don’t have to be terrified that I’m going to do something permanent,” she says, about working in Aperture. “Everything that you do is versioned and doesn’t affect the master. That’s quite significant for people in the sciences because we have to retain the initial image.”
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