RPS 2019 science photographer of the year – shortlist

The shortlist for the Royal Photographic Society’s science photographer of the year competition will be exhibited at the Science Museum in London from 7 October until 5 January. The competition was open to all ages and levels of expertise and the winners will be announced on 7 October

Main image: Stag beetle by Viktor Sykora, taken using light microscopy at five times magnification

  • Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and ‘packing’ – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst
    coloured bubbles

  • Mapping Oxygen by Yasmin Crawford, her final major project for an MA in photography at Falmouth University, which focused on examining the research behind myalgic encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, Crawford says she creates imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown.
    oxygen molecules

  • Calmness of Eternity by Yevhen Samuchenko was taken in the Himalayas in Nepal at Gosaikunda lake at 4,400m. The Milky Way is the galaxy containing our solar system, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
    view of the Milky Way from a Himalayan lake

  • Safety Corona by Richard Germain. A safety pin is connected to a high-tension AC generator to make the pin ionise the air around it. When the electrons fall back on an atom, the excess energy is emitted as photons, which generate the corona glow around the pin. The fuzziness of the pin is because the camera did not actually capture light reflected on the pin but rather the light emitted by the ionisation around it
    A safety pin glowing with ionised light

  • Confused Flour Beetle by David Spears. This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. The image was captured by a scanning electron micrograph and was then coloured in Photoshop
    Flour beetle, coloured in Photoshop

  • North America Nebula by Dave Watson. The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico
    North America Nebula, NGC7000

  • Stag Beetle by Viktor Sykora. The photographer used light microscopy with a magnification of five times
    close-up of top half of a stag beetle

  • Lovell Telescope by Marge Bradshaw. I have been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip, says Bradshaw. She wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed shots, showing the wear on it, she adds
    interior of Lovell Telescope

  • Upside Down Jellyfish by Mary Anne Chilton. Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Jellyfishes’ colour comes from the uptake of algae in the water.
    upside-down jellyfish
Topics