A Thomas Smillie cyanotypes of specimens on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, 1890. Courtesy: Smithsonian Institution Archives

Short Essays

P. H. Emerson: from the Introduction to “Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art”

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Short Essays

May 2, 2017May 2, 2017

Mark Alice Durant: The Wonder of Evidence

“No one appears to be looking at speaker. A (speaker) is not looking at anyone. B inhales cigarette smoke. C manipulates something with hands. D faces toward center of table. These observations represent some point in a stream of behavior, but for our purposes this is an arbitrary beginning—a baseline or zero point from which we shall observe changes.” B is Gregory Bateson, C is Margaret Mead, and D is Ray L. Birdwhistell. From Margaret Mead and Paul Byers, The Small Conference: An Innovation in Communication (1968).

Short Essays

March 8, 2017April 3, 2017

Seth Barry Watter: The Measurers Measured

Michael Phillip Manheim, Approaching Logan Airport, c. 1972, courtesy: National Archives

Short Essays

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017

Jennifer Tucker: Visual Ecologies

New Landscape of Art and Science, 1951, Installation view, The New Landscape of Art and Science, 1951, courtesy: MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA

Short Essays

December 22, 2016January 18, 2017

Ben Burbridge: Science Photography and the Art Museum

Still from Georges Méliès, Le Voyage Dans la Lune, 1902

Short Essays

November 2, 2016January 18, 2017

Joseph Tatarewicz: Moving Images of Science and Technology

From Physics, 1960

Short Essays

October 11, 2016January 18, 2017

Berenice Abbott: Photography and Science (1939)

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Short Essays

August 15, 2016March 18, 2017

Marvin Heiferman: On Seeing Science

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Short Essays

April 20, 2016September 8, 2016

Marcel LaFollette: Woman’s Work: How Rosalind Franklin’s ‘Photo 51’ Told Us the Truth about Ourselves