On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science [Paperback]

Felice C. Frankel (Author), George M. Whitesides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0674026888 | ISBN-13: 978-0674026889

Using innovative photographic technology, Felice Frankel finds startling abstract beauty on the surfaces of objects all around us. Chemist George M. Whitesides explains each photograph, describing why and how each of these phenomena occur.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

... [a] poetic volume ... remarkable, balancing weighty concepts from the laboratory with a literate tone as light and elegant as a spider's web. A wonderful achievement indeed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Rust is not photogenic. Neither is an oil slick. Or so we thought. But look closer. No, closer. Meet the unlikeliest bunch of stars who ever primped for a close-up: migrating bacteria, molded plastic microfabric, ferrofluid...What's remarkable, especially since [the authors] haven't watered down the science, is how accessible the book is. Frankel's photographs may look like trick shots, but in fact they're just a reality we're not used to looking at. She's searching for patterns--in wine coating a glass, in strands of DNA. She makes you look, and look again. And Whitesides is a great discovery: a scientist who writes well...We tend to think of surfaces as superficial, but for scientists surfaces are where things happen. Frankel shows us how beautiful those surfaces can be; Whitesides, how revelatory.
--Malcolm Jones Jr. (Newsweek 19971103)

A stunning collection of fifty-eight photographs with accompanying text, in which the authors--a photographer and a chemist, respectively--have given us remarkable close-ups of the things we find, make, and destroy. Here is an electron micrograph of a compact disk, a surface on which 'The Well-Tempered Clavier' and Led Zeppelin 'are both ruby glitters.' Here, too, is Shakespeare's signature, all swoops and smudges, which can be dated by the rate of migration of iron present in the ink. (New Yorker 19980112)

An eye-opening book. (Harvard Magazine 19970701)

The rich photographs and spare text of this engaging effort by, respectively, photographer Frankel and Harvard chemistry professor Whitesides rely on light and surfaces, and the way they interact, to describe the physics of the everyday on the micro level. Thus, the reader learns of the molecular-level travails of drops of water, colonies of yeast, rust, microelectrodes, prismatic soap bubbles, holographs, and such and how these phenomena constrains or advance the cause of modern technologies. Frankel's iridescent photos, from the Dali-esque Ferrofluid to the blue-and-white chaos of Mechanical Failure of a Thin Film, are beautiful, quiet, and often bizarre. Whitesides's writing, though brief, has a pleasant, poetic heft to it.
--Robert C. Ballou (Library Journal 19980123)

In this wondrous book, the artist Felice Frankel and the chemist George Whitesides meld photography and science to create poetry, of both the visual and literary sort. A series of spectacular photographs--many from the laboratory and many of very tiny objects--are paired with descriptions that capture both the science and the beauty of the images.
--Katrina L. Kelner (Science 19971101)

Materials science bears an unfortunate reputation for dullness, dealing as it does with the stuff of everyday life. A ramble through the pages of this poetic volume, however, exposes the field's underlying luster. A checkerboard of water droplets, a shard of broken glass or a swatch of plastic fabric reveal themselves as things of colorful, otherworldly beauty. The words are no less remarkable, balancing weighty concepts from the laboratory with a literate tone as light and elegant as a spider's web. A wonderful achievement indeed.
--Corey S. Powell (Scientific American 19980309)

Ordinary objects can reveal remarkable patterns under a microscope or hand lens. And even without magnification, they can look like something you've never seen before--at least, they can once photographer Felice Frankel gets hold of them. No less remarkable are her photos of things you really have never seen before: an elastomeric stamp for microprinting, say, which looks like a rainbow mosaic, or the colorful rectangles that turn out to be diamond electron emitters developed for fancy display screens. Frankel and her collaborator, Harvard chemist George M. Whitesides, scrutinize the simplest and most sophisticated materials, explaining what makes them look the way they do.
--Polly Shulman (Discover 20080712)

Felice Frankel and George M. Whitesides have produced a science book that is unlike any other I've seen...[Frankel] has an eye for framing the beauty of the materials, devices, and physical systems that she photographs.
--James R. Heath (Chemical and Engineering News )

Up-close photographs of a wide range of objects and materials result in a spectacular volume of beautiful, often mysterious images.
--H. J. Kirchhoff (Globe and Mail )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674026888
• ISBN-13: 978-0674026889
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #547,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Science photographer Felice Frankel is a research scientist in the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received awards and grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, among others. Felice was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award at Brooklyn College, CUNY and the Lennart Nilsson Award for Scientific Photography.

For more information: www.felicefrankel.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing pictures and understandable explanations, March 31, 1998

By 

Stephan Stuecklin "thduggie" (Basel, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Surface of Things (Paperback)

As a student in Material Science and Engineering, I couldn't resist when I heard of this book, and I was not disappointed. Mrs. Frankel's photography is beautiful and illustrative without losing an artful touch as far as composition is concerned, and Mr. Whitesides' explanations can be easily grasped due to their intuitive approach. For someone who wants to know more about the science behind the effects the explanations may not be detailed enough, which is why I don't rate this book a ten, but whoever desires to gain an overview of surface effects and understand the basics of it, this is the book to read. I sincerely recommend this book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic. A joy to look at and to read, June 10, 1999

By 

Nomad (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Surface of Things (Paperback)

This book consists of a number of fascinating photos drawn from the world of science. The pictures are works of art in themselves, and include a simple scale indicator to give you a clue whether what you're looking at is microscopic or full sized. The accompanying prose explains in a short description what you're looking at and why it's so interesting. The prose is brilliantly written and easy to read.

This book is not for scientists per se, but for anyone with a fascination for the world around them. A perfect accent to any coffee table.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great photography book !, October 11, 1998

By 

José Eduardo - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Surface of Things (Paperback)

This is not a science book ! The photos are really great, but the name fooled me...it is not a book on surface science ! Just a photography book that have some phothos that were taken with the help of scientific media.....