Photography and science have long been intertwined, helping to shape the way humans view and learn about the world.
Globally, scientists harness the power and the art of photography to gather information, explore, learn, promote scientific advances, and also interface between the sciences and the public.
One type of visual art that is natural to integrate with science is photography. The camera, which creates art, also captures and teaches us unique scientific details.
Some of them are not visible by the human eye for various reasons: They happen too fast, are too small, or are too far away in the universe.
The art of photography in science enables professionals to capture things that happen too quickly for the human eye to see. For example, a bullet piercing through a card or a banana at a fast speed.
Pictures are scientifically groundbreaking both in what they capture and the process used to capture them.
Quite often, photos that depict science are provocative, beautiful, or intriguing. One can argue that society should consider images that elicit an emotional response as art.
X-rays taken in hospitals are real photographs produced through x-ray light rather than visible light.
Similarly, infrared and ultra-violet photos, which detect invisible wavelengths of light, can be used for numerous purposes including astronomy and medicine, and the detection of cracks in pipes or heat loss from buildings.
In all these cases, evidence and experimental results can be easily exchanged between scientists using photographs.
But photography can also depict things the human eye cannot see at all. Hours-long exposures taken through telescopes bring out astronomical details otherwise unseeable.
Similar principles apply to some photos taken through microscopes. High-speed photography allows us to see a bullet in flight.
Photography has become an essential component of many areas of science. It has played a crucial role in the study of anatomy. Photographs can provide an objective standard for defining the visual characteristics of a species of animal or a type of rock formation.