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Frankel’s Photography

By Hussein Oueis

2007 Article Links

Benefits of ASM Membership
Challenges of Writing
Double Epidemic
Fifth Disease
Fish With Hormonal Imbalances
Frankel Photos
Frankel Talk
Hep C Meds
Horror of AIDS
Hantavirus in New Mexico
Juan Reyna
Nature or Nurture
Nosocomial Infections are a Red Flag
Open Eyes to Science
Pandemic Flu Plans
Polio
Project ECHO
Typhoid Mary
West Nile Prevention
Zoo Diseases

Science is a very difficult language for many people to understand. In the scientific world, cells divide, molecules bond and DNA replicates. For many, that is a hard language to speak and understand. A talented microbiologist named Felice Frankel came up with a revolutionary idea that mixes science and photography, which might help people build a better understanding of science.

Felice Frankel is a senior research faculty member in the Arts and Sciences department at Harvard University. Her main study is the combination of art and photography to help people gain a better understanding of science. According to Frankel, pictures are available to communicate a message and make us look and question.

Frankel drives the cause to make science simpler in her new book, Envisioning Science. The book is a combination of artistic design that shows how the mixture of science and art creates visual information that is appealing and easy to understand.

Frankel demonstrates how the brain is able to understand a difficult subject such as science by using pictures and color.  The designs in Frankel’s book focus on sophisticated coloring to show readers what she wants them to see and understand.
 
According to Frankel, people often do no appreciate science because they do not have the right visuals to connect them with language and content. Science is also an abstraction of representation and lacks the meaning of understanding.

Scientists have a hard time communicating science to the public because they do not know how to explain the scientific world in a language that is easy to understand or is personally meaningful. Frankel, through the Harvard Initiative for Innovative Computing is hoping to bridge this communication gap.