International science visualization contest
Cover image: A map of the links between genes in a mustard plant. Image courtesy of Insuk Lee, Michael Ahn, Edward Marcotte, Seung Yon Rhee, Carnegie Institution for Science.
Above: This 10-minute video depicts winners of the SciVis challenge from 2006 through 2008. Video courtesy of the National Science Foundation.
Art and beauty intersect with science and research far more often than many suppose. Sometimes it emerges naturally, taking scientists by surprise. Sometimes, it must be drawn out by someone with artistic insight.
Creating visualizations of scientific data is a particularly challenging task. It requires artistry, advanced computing skills, the ability to grasp the scientific concepts, and the creativity to conceive of new ways to display data. The successful visualization must be pleasing to both the eye and intellect, providing researchers with practical, even insightful perspective on their data.
The International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge seeks to celebrate some of the most beautiful visualizations in the world, offering prizes in several categories. The contest is once again accepting entries -- this time for the 2011 year.
The video above depicts winners from 2006 through 2008. You can see the winners from 2009 here, and from 2010 here; these later videos include brief explanations from the entrants discussing the tools they used.
Entries for the 2011 contest are due 30 September 2011. You can learn more about the contest by visiting the contest's website here.
Comments
Post new comment