imaging science and technology


Thursday, September 23, 1999
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Bartos Theater
MIT Media Lab

20 Ames Street

Human beings assimilate the world chiefly through their sense of sight. It is not surprising, therefore, that scientists continually seek new and better ways to see, in order to become better observers. With only the occasional exception, science forgets that the phenomena whose characteristics it seeks to understand may be stunningly beautiful when skillfully visualized. Unfortunately, generating images is usually carried out with only minimal expertise with virtually no consideration for their aesthetic or communicative qualities. An arresting image is the butterfly net that can snare the attention. Emotional engagement, coupled with intellectual curiosity, is the next step toward understanding. This talk encourages researchers to think of images as a means of communicating results to a range of audiences and to stimulate thinking about the research.

Speaker: Felice Frankel, Artist in Residence, MIT
Respondent: Boyce Rensberger, Director, Knight Journalism Fellowships