Science Art – The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

Scientific illustration of the path of a comet showing the direction of a comet's tail

Science Art: Section of a Comet’s Path, 1933

16 January 2022 grant 0

This illustration, from Natural History Magazine, shows the way the comet of 1843 (or Comet 1843, if you prefer) reached its closest point to the […]

Scientific illustration of a cave drawing.

Science Art: Magdalenian engraving of bison

9 January 2022 grant 0

This is a drawing of a drawing, a likeness of a bison engraved on cave floor at Niaux. The likeness is part of the Wellcome […]

Scientific illustration of a communications satellite rocket lifting off.

Science Art: Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Lifts Off!, by NASA/Joel Kowsky, 7 Dec 2021

2 January 2022 grant 0

This is another unusual perspective of a space vessel in flight, though slightly less rare than the top-down image posted here on 28 November. We’re […]

Scientific illustration from the 1600s showing comet orbits and distances from the Sun.

Science Art: Comet observations from Libra astronomica, y philosophica by Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora, 1690.

27 December 2021 grant 0

I can’t make out exactly what this is illustrating. My Spanish is barely good enough to tell, in section 309 of Carlos de Siguenza y […]

Scientific illustration of two moths, the rosy maple moth and the io moth.

Science Art: Auiomeris io, Dryocampa rubicunda by Edna Libby Beutenmüller, 1918.

19 December 2021 grant 0

Two moths, pictured in The Field Book of Insects by Frank E. Lutz. A. io, with the big roundels on its wings, is better known […]

Scientific Illustration of a NASA Space-X Crew 4 Mission Patch.

Science Art: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 Mission Patch, by Alexandra Lindgren

12 December 2021 grant 0

A dragonfly in space. Luck, and transformation. This is the symbol for a joint NASA/ESA mission to the ISS, with Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and […]

Scientific illustration of a worker manufacturing (or repairing) a gigantic Westinghouse engine (or generator).

Science Art: Heart of the Turbine, by Lewis W. Hine, 1930.

5 December 2021 grant 0

A gelatin silver print of a man making a Westinghouse engine. I think this might be an AC generator, but I’m not sure – the […]

Scientific illustration of the Dragon rocket getting ready to dock at the ISS, with its nose cone open.

Science Art: A Dragon Approaches, ESA/NASA, 2021

28 November 2021 grant 0

This is a view of the Dragon spaceship Endurance from an angle most of us never get to see – above the nose cone, which […]

Scientific illustration or technical illustration of standard paper sizes compared to a human body in stocking feet.

Science Art: Papierformate 01 (fcm), by Frank C. Müller

21 November 2021 grant 0

This is a picture of paper sizes as compared to a human being who will presumably be reading or writing on them. It also has […]

Scientific illustration of a 19th-century brassiere invention

Science Art: Bosom Pad (U.S. patent 404881), 1888.

14 November 2021 grant 0

This geometric shape might look like the kind of floral decoration old-time printers used to separate blocks of text, but no – it’s from a […]

Scientific illustration of a brontothere or titanothere, a prehistoric rhino relative, something like an ancient horse.

Science Art: Skull of Dolichorhinus cornutus (Osborn),

7 November 2021 grant 0

This is the skull of a creature with lots of scientific names, but in “Osteology of Dolichorhinus longiceps Douglass, with a review of the species […]

Scientific illustration of the arteries leading into the heart, one normal and one abnormal

Science Art: Schematic Drawing Showing (Left) Normal Origin and Distribution of the Coronary Arteries…, 1943.

31 October 2021 grant 0

This diagram came from an article called “Anomalous Origin of Left Coronary Artery” by John C. Ruddock, a Naval Reserve Medical Corps commander, and Charles […]

Magpie on the Gallows, a mathematical illustration of an impossible object

Science Art: Magpie on the Gallows, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1568

24 October 2021 grant 0

Oh, a beautiful Renaissance landscape by one of those Lowland masters, a naturalistic scene of people meeting merrily on a wooded path between the village […]

Scientific illustration of a chameleon from the Early Modern period.

Science Art: Caméleon, Sébastien Le Clerc, 1676

17 October 2021 grant 0

This is a chameleon seen inside and out in Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire naturelle des animaux, by Claude Perrault, an early text on natural […]

Scientific illustration of NASA training equipment, a giant gyroscope not unlike the device in Lawnmower Man

Science Art: The MASTIF, or Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility.

10 October 2021 grant 0

Welcome to Cleveland, spaceman! This was a training device from what was the Lewis Research Center and is now the John H. Glenn Research Center […]