Eye Magazine

An astonishing collection of images of great beauty from the natural sciences went on show at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam last Saturday.

Prof. Dr Hans Galjaard, curator of the exhibition, sought out examples from the following fields: physics, chemistry, geology, microbiology, marine biology, botany, fungal diversity, cell biology of higher organisms, human reproduction and astronomy.

He asked practitioners in more than 30 institutions if they had experienced what he calls a ‘Stendhal moment’, an instance of overwhelming beauty, during their research.

There are no physical artworks; scientific films and images will be projected on the walls and ceilings.

Top: Marble, Verde D’Arno, polished surface 7x9 cm. Photograph: Dirk Wiersma, Utrecht.

Above: Crystalline mixture including dextrin and potassium bicarbonate. Photograph: Loes Modderman.

Below: Crystalline mixture of paracetamol and dextrin. Photograph: Loes Modderman.

Above: Diatoms. Photograph: Wim van Egmond / Micropolitan Museum.

Below: A carbon nanotube (green) over two electrodes. Photograph: Cees Dekker, Nanotechnology Institute, Delft University of Technology.

Above: Star moss. Photograph: Ruth van Crevel from Plantenparade (2001).

Below: Pollen grain. Photograph: Jan Muller, National Herbarium of the Netherlands.

Below: Inside the Eagle Nebula. Photograph: T. A. Rector & B. A. Wolpa, National Optical Astronomy Observatory/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy / National Science Foundation.

12 February > 5 June 2011
Beauty in Science
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark
18 3015 CX Rotterdam
Netherlands
www.boijmans.nl

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It’s available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop. For a taste of no. 78, see Eye before you buy on Issuu.