Felice Frankel
Scientific Discovery Through Visualization
A part of a new series Frankel is working on (with George Whitesides) for an upcoming book, “No Small Matter,” which explores nano- and micro-science, this image focuses on the “skin“ (which is only a few atoms thick) that forms on a water drop.
Frankel’s Image and Meaning workshops bring together scientists from a wide range of disciplines to focus on the visual representation of their data. The conferences’ interdisciplinary nature gives scientists the opportunity to share ideas. Visual expression gives them a common lexicon with which to break down barriers and stimulate collaboration.
“It might surprise you, but we do deal with similar issues, whether it’s oceanography or solar thermal expression,” Frankel explains. “Whether it’s underwater collection of data or out there in the solar winds, the representation of this data is very similar. Unfortunately, you rarely see scientists from different disciplines talking with each other. This is what we’re trying to change during these workshops — to get more communication going among the disciplines.”
“It’s with visual language — such as pictures and graphics — that we can help people feel less intimidated.”
Although advancements in communication and interdisciplinary sciences are key to Frankel’s message, she doesn’t want the individual relationship between scientists and their data to be overlooked. Seeing data that you are intimately familiar with presented in a new way can be a powerful tool in the scientific process. None of this would be possible without advancements in computing.
“It’s the computer and its amazing power that have given us insight that we would never have realized,” she says. “It has truly changed the way science has developed and will continue to develop.”
Motivations for Advancements in the Field
Communicating results and ideas through visual expression is, of course, nothing new, but Frankel is finding new audiences and breaking new ground by developing science photography into a mainstream field of its own.
“We are beginning to take the visual expression of science more seriously and will, in the end, advance thinking,” Frankel says. “Thinking visually and finding the best way to communicate those thoughts is another way of considering science. Eventually, the best scenario would be to create a multi-disciplined visual profession.”
Through her images, books, and workshops, Frankel endeavors to open the eyes and ears of both academia and the general public. She is deeply involved in the Picturing to Learn project, which teaches students to engage in science through visual expression. “I think people are very curious about the world around them,” she says. “And in their guts they know that there’s a lot of science involved. But they’re fearful of asking questions. Scientists have been using a language that’s inaccessible.”
She wants to change that. “It’s with visual language — such as pictures and graphics — that we can help people feel less intimidated,” she says. “It’s the visual language with which we’re all familiar that allows us to talk to each other about an image, point out parts that are interesting or beautiful, and ask questions without hesitation. That’s the bottom line for me: to make science accessible by revealing the beauty that’s already there.”
Frankel has seamlessly brought science, art, and technology together to create a new hub for the expression of ideas in the scientific community. The many labels — photographer, scientist, artist, designer — might just be perfect for a woman who believes so strongly in the advancement of interdisciplinary studies. Frankel has been building bridges between the separate disciplines her entire life.
“This is about turning the world on to science,” she says. “It was technically easy for me to get into this world because of Apple, and that gave me the freedom to concentrate on the more creative issues. Honestly, that’s for real.”
Aperture Brings New Level of Focus
Frankel uses a variety of software but has traditionally focused on Photoshop. “Photoshop is essential, but I’m also enjoying my recent introduction to Aperture. The problem I find with Photoshop is that, for a scientist, there’s just too much there. We want to be as honest as we can with our images, so we don’t need all those bells and whistles.” Aperture now lies at the center of her workflow, ingesting new images from the camera and old images from Photoshop.
“There are two basic things that are wonderful,” she says. “First, it gives me an opportunity to organize images and to quickly compare and contrast them. It’s a major addition to my working process to no longer have to open every 50-megabyte file to compare how things look, which in the end takes a lot of time. It’s a joy to use Aperture to quickly view and organize my images.”
Although Aperture’s organizational and image-processing components are central to its value, users can enjoy the fluid interface on a daily basis. “There is a learning curve to Aperture, but it’s all very intuitive,” adds Frankel. “For instance, the magnifier is absolutely brilliant. Aperture uses a new kind of thinking — although it’s an incredibly logical kind of thinking — that is key for me. Aperture will be terrific for scientists; I’m very excited about it.”
New Perspectives Inspire New Ideas
A salient example of the power of visual expression arose when Frankel was working on her image of six cuvettes of nano-crystals. While experimenting with how to present the data, Frankel decided to further the abstraction by cropping the top and bottom of each cuvette, effectively removing any reference point to the nano-crystals’ containers. After seeing the data presented that way, MIT scientist Moungi Bawendi immediately thought of a potentially new application for nano-crystals related to the color bar codes that the new image resembled. The cropped image offered him a new perspective — a new way of seeing something he had been working on for years.
“Visual expression is not only a way to speak with the general public and communicate with other scientific disciplines,” says Frankel. “The process of finding a way to visually represent an idea clarifies the science for the scientist. The process makes you think differently.”
