Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us

Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us — page 3
INTRODUCTION AS A SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHER and research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology I capture images of research in various labs Many of the photographs are used for research publications visually showing the science Sometimes the images appear on journal covers which helps bring attention to the research Every day I am introduced to various scientific phenomena and because of that I see connections to the world around us That's what this book is about Phenomenal Moments started years ago when cameras in phones became good enough to create high-quality images Like most people if I have my phone in my pocket I am more apt to take pictures as I go about my daily life Recently I realized I had accumulated a significant collection of images that could tell the story of how science is all around us In my job as a scientific photographer I usually use my Nikon D850 DSLR real camera with a 105mm macro lens Sometimes I put the camera on a microscope but recently I have been using my phone especially for the images you will see in this book The phone is a quick way I have the best job in the world I am constantly learning about science because of the pictures I take As an example of what I do I've included an image I took of a material called ferrofluid Ferrofluid is a suspension of very small pieces of iron in oil I placed a large drop of the material onto a glass slide Under the glass slide is a yellow sticky note and under the yellow sticky note are seven circular magnets You are seeing the iron particles responding to the magnetic fields made by the magnets If you look carefully you can see the pane of the window I used to light the setup You can also see the green card I held over it to reflect a little color And if you look even more closely you can see the lens of my camera Not something I meant to happen