Believing is Seeing: Imagining and Imaging the Invisible from a Curator’s Perspective

Abstract

A discussion is presented of the process of looking into science, particularly microscopy, whilst being concerned with its representation and its public understanding and dissemination in the context of curating exhibitions. Historical examples explored include the studies of the fruit fly, Drosophila, and the works of noted scientists including Mendel, Grew, Leeuwenhoek, Hooke, Baker, Lister and Quekett. How the development of modern equipment and techniques such as scanning electron microscopy led to advances in histology and physiology is examined. The current importance of medical imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and computerized tomography (CT) scanning is discussed. A particular mention is made of the artistic works of Kessler based on electron microscopy.

Keywords:

• curation
• history of microscopy
• electron microscopy art
• imaging
• tomography

Notes

1 In 1855, R. J. Farrants presented a paper on the micro-pantograph, a device invented by Paul Gustave Froment (1815–1865), builder of the original Foucault pendulum, and perfected by N. Peters, a London banker (one of the machines was named after him). It was used to etch the Lord’s Prayer in 1/356,000 square inch of glass and was operated by coupling two pantographs, so that their action was multiplied, allowing reductions of up to 6250 times. Before Farrants, in 1839, John Benjamin Dancer had put a microscope lens in a camera and photographed a twenty-inch-long handbill at 160:1 reduction. This first microfilm document was perfectly legible under a 100x microscope. (Foer 2007).

2 Giambattista Odierna (1597–1666) was the first to study the eyes of insects and the venomous glands of vipers using a microscope said to have magnified 2000 times.