Writing a scientific paper on scientific illustration - where can I find sources?

October 4, 2007 6:21 AM

I chose an unusual subject for my third year dissertation- Scientific Illustration. I need to compare past and present methods of recording images and their pros and cons with a named example (at the moment I've chosen Phytophthera, potato blight), as well as methods by which students and researchers observe and record their images. I'm a little stumped though, as there is very little (to my knowledge) peer-reviewed referencable texts out there for me to study with. Can anyone help?

I'm currently studying Biological Science in my 3rd year, and my research project, rather unusually, is about scientific illustration. I enjoy science, but do not want a career in it when I graduate, and so chose to keep at least one of my proverbial fingers in a vaguely artistic pie. However, I now have the task of making this paper sufficiently scientific, which is a major problem since there are few peer-reviewed papers and sources for the research I need to do compared to, say, a study into MRSA or cancer genes.
The bulk of the paper will be comparing methods of illustration from painting to photography with reference to their intended purpose (decoration, diagram, etc) and the type of information they must get accross to their audience, both in the past and in the present, with at least one example- it currently being images of potato blight, Phytophthera and how they have changed with changing methods of illustration. Moreover, I would also like to look into ways of helping students to observe and record what they see, and methods drawing diagrams for those who would not be described as artistically talented.

I'm sorry if this seems vague, but at the moment I'm sitting in a bit of a limbo between art and science, and as a result I am finding it very hard to aquire much source material. Are there any books, papers, or websites out there about the subject of scientific illustration, or comparisons between photography and illustration, past and present? If you have any questions I'll happily try to be more specific.

Thanks in advance.

posted by D J Robertstein to science & nature (17 comments total)

Contact CSIRO Plant Industry, and CSIRO Entomology. I know at least that Ento has employed an illustrator, and who might be able to help.

The email address is enquiries at csiro.au
posted by flutable at 6:29 AM on October 4, 2007

Tufte might be helpful.
posted by enfa at 6:30 AM on October 4, 2007

I'll look into those, thanks guys. This whole paper is pretty much going to be millions of comparisons between forms of illustration. The case study, currently Phytophthera, could be anything though. Does anyone know any animals, diseases, plants etc that have been in the public eye for a very long time, and would have scientific illustrations of it? My initial ideas are potato blight, plague, pox, etc. Any other suggestions?

Tufte's book looks very useful, thanks again.
posted by D J Robertstein at 6:35 AM on October 4, 2007

I know that Johns Hopkins has one of the few academic programs in scientific/medical illustration in the US. You might try calling them to see if they can help you.
posted by footnote at 6:36 AM on October 4, 2007

For a start, you can see my book The Science of Describing: Natural History in Renaissance Europe, chapter 4, and the studies referenced there. Old but good is Ludwig Treviranus, Die Anwendung von Holzschnitten zur bildlichen Darstellung von Pflanzen. Monika Damann has a review article in a recent issue of Gesnerus on the "visual turn" in science: Monika Dommann, "Vom Bild zum Wissen: Eine Bestandaufnahme wissenschaftshistorischer Bildforschung," Gesnerus 61, no. 1/2 (2004), pp. 77-89. There's also a volume edited by Wolfgang Lefèvre et al., The Power of Images in Early Modern Science.

If you're interested in studying a particular insect over the longue durée, I suggest that you check out seventeenth-century publications such as Ulisse Aldrovandi, De animalibus insectis, or Thomas Moffett, Theatrum insectorum, to find out which organisms they discuss (though that's not always easy to determine), and then follow up from there. Important later seventeenth-century work is that of Marcello Malpighi on the silkworm (De Bombyce) and Jan Swammerdam. By the eighteenth century the sources are numerous, e.g. Réaumur, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes in many volumes. I'm currently working on a paper on seventeenth-century insect illustrations. You can consult Janice Neri's 2003 Ph.D. dissertation at the University of California, Irvine, titled "Fantastic Observations: Images of Insects in Early Modern Europe" for plenty of stimulating material.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:10 AM on October 4, 2007 [4 favorites]

There is a fairly substantial literature on the history of scientific images. You can start with the books Representation in Scientific Practice; and Picturing Science, Producing Art. They're both a bit esoteric but, if nothing else, might give you some useful citations.
posted by googly at 7:53 AM on October 4, 2007

Picturing Nature by Ann Shelby Blum published by the Princeton University Press and Picturing Plants by Gill Saunders published by the University of California Press are both peer reviewed monographs that may be of use.
posted by Toekneesan at 10:11 AM on October 4, 2007

Of historical note might be Robert Hooke's Micrographia.

Of course, you can find a better source than wikipedia, but on the off-chance that you hadn't thought of it yet... Micrographia might be the first instance ever of Scientific Illustration. His famous rendition of the flea is one of the many iconic images contained therein; plus it's just really amazingly interesting, even if you don't use it for your dissertation!
posted by synaesthetichaze at 10:56 AM on October 4, 2007

The John James Audubon book Birds of America is an example of exacting (and beautiful!) scientific illustration, although Audubon's methods may have come under question in recent years.
posted by Lynsey at 11:19 AM on October 4, 2007

Well if you're going to suggest Audubon, I'll suggest William Bartram. Know mostly as the author of the book the soldier in Cold Mountain was reading (frequently referred to by its condensed title Travels) he was also an amazing naturalist artist. His father was the King's Botanist here in the colonies and his art isn't all that well known in the states because his patron was a Brit. Subsequently, most of his art is now in the Natural History Museum in London. A book has just been published about him and his work that is also peer reviewed called The Art and Science of William Bartram. (Disclosure: I work for the American co-publisher of the book, which is why I hesitated recommending it.)
posted by Toekneesan at 12:29 PM on October 4, 2007

I don't know anything about the potato blight specifically, but here is some info on someone walking the bio/art line and leading the field in some interesting illustration/animation (TED might also have more on this, that particular video is just the only one I've seen).
posted by eralclare at 12:47 PM on October 4, 2007

Seconding the Dept of Medical Illustration at Johns Hopkins Medical School. I'd think that medical illustration would probably have the longest accessible history, going right back to medieval European and Islamic medical treatises. Maybe you could look at a history of illustrating old-timey diseases like leprosy, scrofula (tuberculosis), and other ailments that have been known for centuries? From crude woodcuts to photography to maybe even some kind of spectroscopic imaging (X-ray, CT, etc) would be quite a progression of image-rendition technology. Not to mention the concepts that the images are trying to convey: supernatural influences, germ theory, molecules running amok - what a rich story to tell!

The Medical Illustration department keeps an archive, I believe, of work by past and present students and professors that goes back to the early 1900s and probably includes earlier examples. If you can arrange a visit to Baltimore it might be a splendid resource for you.
posted by Quietgal at 12:49 PM on October 4, 2007

I'm home now and just checked my library. Found two more.

Journeys in Microspace: The Art of the Scanning Electron Microscope by Dee Breger, published by Columbia University Press, and Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science by Ann Thomas, published by Yale University press. Both also peer-reviewed. I've only suggested those by university presses as I'm familiar with the rigorous vetting process. Contact me by email if you're interested in other books by commercial presses on botanical or zoological imagery or books by university presses on medical imagery.
posted by Toekneesan at 3:13 PM on October 4, 2007

I went to the June 2006 one day workshop here called Image and Meaning, which was about collaboration to create effective illustrations in science and technology. Some of the folks associated with it might be helpful to you.
posted by yoga at 3:49 PM on October 4, 2007

Check out bioephemera and street anatomy.
posted by squink at 5:30 PM on October 4, 2007

A quick followup to my earlier post: many early natural history books are available in online collections. Some are free, like the Gallica digital library from the French National Library. Others are by subscription, but your university may subscribe; two important ones are EEBO (Early English Books Online) and ECCO (Eighteenth-Century Collections Online).

For a totally mind-blowing microanatomical study of an insect, see Pierre Lyonet's 1762 anatomical study of the caterpillar of the carpenter moth (Cossus cossus L.).
posted by brianogilvie at 6:35 PM on October 4, 2007

The Street Anatomy medical illustration blog might be helpful to you. http://www.streetanatomy.com/blog/.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 6:53 PM on October 5, 2007