10 Most Influential Science Photographs Of All Time
Images that inspire and ignite scientific minds
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Every picture speaks a story of its own. One of my hobbies, ever since I was a kid, has been to explore the historical aspects of science, physics, to be more specific. I would search the picture books of history and surf the internet going through images of scientists, scientific inventions, and events, and would try to find out the story behind those pictures, which in fact, is a very effective method to study history. I don’t understand why most people find history so boring. I think it’s really amusing to explore and learn about past events. Coming back to science, I learned a great deal about physics and mathematics through images, and I believe anyone can learn to a great extent about anything with the help of photographs. In this article, I shall share the ten most iconic science photographs of all time. Some of these pictures were captured several years ago, in fact, decades ago yet they are crucially significant and hold a great essence to science and scientific endeavor. Images belong to the respective archives and owners which are mentioned alongside each.
Pale Blue Dot by Voyager 1
This mage shows the Earth as a tiny speck on the vastness of the universe. Captured by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in February 1990, Pale Blue Dot (coined by Carl Sagan) is one of the most iconic photographs in the history of science that portrays a prolific example of scientific endeavor.
The first antiparticle
Physicist Carl Anderson discovered the first antiparticle (positron) on 2 August 1932. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery. The above image shows the trajectory of a positron ion trail in a cloud chamber separated by a 6mm lead plate. The discovery of antimatter has been crucial in our understanding of the universe.
