February 26, 2010

My co-worker Heather and I entered the National Science Foundation's "International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge" last fall. We were informed in November that we were finalists, but, sadly, did not end up winning. However, I want to share a link to the website that showcases the winners (we entered the Photography challenge), because I think it really demonstrates how beautiful science can be.

http://www.sciencemag.org/special/vis2009/show/

Some of the photographs would appear quite mundane in real life. It took the creative minds of researchers to take the usual and make it beautiful, meaningful and accessible.

Below is the image we submitted and it's would be caption. It's called "Icy Slopes". I admit, it's not as beautiful as the winners, but I liked it.

The image was obtained using a scanning tunneling microscope. The unique capabilities of this instrument allowed for molecular resolution of dibutylselenide (DBSe) molecules adsorbed on a Au (111) surface. The herringbone reconstruction of the Au (111) surface acts as a template for patterning the DBSe. DBSe preferentially adsorbs in the wider region of the herringbone as evidenced by the dense packing of molecules in those areas of the surface.

The DBSe molecules look like individual snow-capped peaks leading off into the distance. Each of these "molecular mountains" is in reality less than one trillionth the size of Mt. Everest. These molecules align along their central selenium atoms with their alkyl tails parallel to one another. The molecules will line up either along or against the herringbone directions, depending on how much space is available, to maximize the number of molecules that can fit within a given area. Self-assembly allows the individual DBSe molecules to be the building blocks for patterning areas on much larger size scales.