staceythinx:

Diatoms arranged in a familiar shape. Photo by Dr. Steve Lowry

staceythinx:

Here are some of the winners of Princeton’s The Art of Science competition. This year’s theme was “intelligent design”. 

About the theme:

“In recent years, the phrase ‘intelligent design’ has taken on a polarizing meaning,” said Art of Science co-organizer Andrew Zwicker, who is the head of Science Education at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and a lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program. “But in the broadest sense, beautiful objects, both natural and the manufactured, have an intelligence to their form, their function, and thus, their design.”

Art of Science co-organizer Adam Finkelstein, professor of computer science at Princeton and a co-organizer of the competition, said that the theme for the 2011 exhibit came from a desire to reframe the phrase “intelligent design.”

“We wanted to celebrate the idea that both nature and the rearranging of the natural world have inherent beauty,” Finkelstein said.

Click here to read more about the competition and here to see the gallery of winners

Opaque  by  andbamnan