26 februari 2008

Robert Markus of Hungary has won the international "Seeing Science" photography contest. The results were announced on Monday 25 February during the awards ceremony at the Trippenhuis Building in Amsterdam.

The photograph Fruit fly larva in a drop of water combines science, beauty, magic, originality and art, according to jury chairman Frits van Oostrom. It is a powerful image of natural beauty and a splendid example of state-of-the-art science. Robert Markus is a researcher at the Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) asked for photographs that reveal the magic of science. The Academy received almost three hundred entries from thirty countries. All four finalists of "Seeing Science" attended the awards ceremony. In addition to Robert Markus, the finalists were Anna Kozhevnikova (Russia), Erwin Platen and Rense Boomsma (Netherlands) and Sudipto Das (India).


From left: Jos van der Meer, Robert Markus, Sudipto Das, Erwin Platen, Rense Boomsma, Frits van Oostrom. Front: Anna Kozhevnikova

Chris Timmers of Utrecht won the "Seeing Science" popular prize. Visitors to the Academy's anniversary website had a two-month period to vote on twenty different photographs. The public response was huge, with Chris Timmers' photograph ultimately receiving the most votes. Timmers works for the Multimedia Department at UMC Utrecht and records images of invisible subjects, for example the functioning of the brain.