KARACHI: The Images of Science exhibition organised by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Karachi, in collaboration with Max Planck Society that opened at the Mohatta Palace Museum here on Thursday provides one with the opportunity of a fascinating glimpse into the world of science through some 22 large-format images.

It is an itinerant exhibition visiting here on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of German-Pakistan relations.

Speaking at the opening, director of the Mohatta Palace Museum Nasreen Askari said: “The exhibition is a very exciting one because it is immensely provocative, having used state-of-the-art scientific investigation to illuminate aspects of our daily life.”

She said that the research group Max Planck Society was to be lauded for its vitally important research led by a Karachiite, Dr Asifa Akhtar. “They have used advanced imaging techniques, specialised telescopes and super computers to convey signals from individual receptors with nanosecond precision. A wealth of information can be obtained on black hole, daily life aspects including viruses, bacteria, genetics, gravitational forces, ocean currents, art, architecture, birds, crops, fish, plants, weeds and worms to name only a few in a long list,” she added.

Exhibition provides glimpse into the world of science through large-format pictures

Appreciating the Mohatta Palace Museum for holding the exhibition, Holger Ziegeler, the Consul General of Germany in Karachi, said that he was happy to see how well it had all been presented with detailed information about each image along with its Urdu translation.

Talking through a video message, Dr Asifa Akhtar, the director of the Department of Chromatin Regulation at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, said that research didn’t have to be heavy.

Looking at the similarities in art and science, she said: “Both include a quest or passion for knowledge, curiosity and rationality. Hope the images pique your curiosity.”

It was also explained that science often pushes back the boundaries of the known world to explore the new and make the unseen visible. Images and imaging techniques play an important role in this process. And the images of science sometimes show surprisingly aesthetic forms and structures, abstract works of art from a world normally hidden to the human eye.

There is the striped five centimetres long zebra fish that has similar heart genes to those of human beings, the ragworm larva which looked like a torn cotton pillow with protruding threads to some eyes, the dark sun spots generated by magnetic fields from the sun’s interior, the thale cress weed that grows quickly and multiplies, magnetic fields and monster waves, corona viruses and proteins that look like spikes of a crown, the human immune system that at first glance looks like an exotic flower, thrombocytes or platelets, cosmos and the evolution of the universe, the varying magnitude of heat, the magic of optic lenses, humming bird feathers, the crystallographic structure of a variety of stainless steel, etc.

Blown up in size, the images, contributed by scientists from varying research fields from more than 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society, look like magnificent pieces of art. They include digital photography, scanned electron microscopy, laser scans, etc. The techniques range from conventional photography and coloured microscopic images to computer simulation. In times of the pandemic, one focus of the exhibition is also on biology and medicine but basically it takes one from atoms to the universe.

The exhibition will remain open to the public till June 30.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2022