Frankel receives Lennart Nilsson Award for science photography

Felice Frankel, scientific imagist and researcher in Harvard’s Initiative in Innovative Computing, has been named the recipient of the 2007 Lennart Nilsson Award for scientific or nature photography. Frankel was cited for creating images described by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, which oversees the award, as “exquisite works of art and crystal-clear scientific photographs — both fascinating and valuable to the general public and scientific community alike.”

The Lennart Nilsson Award is given out annually in honor of the internationally celebrated Karolinska Institute photographer of the same name. “As with the Swedish photographer’s own images,” the institute wrote, “Felice Frankel’s work reveals previously invisible aspects of the world in unique, novel ways. Her subjects range from nanotechnology to magnetism and the surface tension of water droplets.

Frankel said that she felt humbled to be named this year’s winner, and said that it’s “most important to recognize the extraordinary community of science researchers who have devoted their lives to creating the amazing research that I continue to have the privilege of documenting.”

In selecting Frankel, the board of the Lennart Nilsson Foundation stated: “Those viewing Ms. Frankel’s images are initially captivated by their form and colour. No sooner is their curiosity aroused than they want to know what the photograph depicts. She has thus fulfilled a scientific reporter’s paramount task: to awaken people’s interest and desire to learn.”