Using innovative photographic technology, Frankel finds startling abstract beauty in the undulations of liquid crystal film, the gymnastics of plastic microstructures, the migratory trudge of bacteria, and other scientific wonders. Whitesides's accompanying text is lucid, engaging, and even poetic as he explains each photograph, describing why and how these phenomena occur. In the tradition of The Powers of Ten, On the Surface of Things will excite curious minds and intrigue anyone with an appreciation for photography or unique forms of natural beauty. Felice Frankel's photographs unite art and science. It is a happy union and a deep one, for these spellbinding colors and textures and filigrees, captured with Ms. Frankel's keen eye, remind us that much of our sense of beauty derives from the endless variety of phenomena we find in the natural world.
Every image is a scientific question, a wonderment, a poem.
This beautiful book and artful collaboration shows us the true depth of surfaces at all scales of our sight and understanding. These images share the glowing color and intricate shapes of paintings, but they present the real world from a frosted wintry window to microbial conflict. All rights reserved.