Research as Art: A Gallery of Scientific Beauty

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Game of Research

Chess game representing research

(Image credit: Gregg Norton, Swansea University)

Broken metal test pieces stand in for pieces in this game of chess staged by Gregg Norton. "The image represents how research can be thought of as a game of strategy. How the research game is played is down to the individual researcher. Each move is always a calculated risk; assessing the probabilities of success. It can open up several new opportunities and take the player in a new and exciting direction," Norton writes. This image won the 2012 Research as Art postgraduate prize.

Old Faithful

A torpedo weight for scientific instruments

(Image credit: Merin Broudic and Tracy Dyson, Swansea University)

This image is an ode to the battered equipment needed to move science forward. Fancy marine recording devices need a torpedo weight like "Old Faithful" to stay in place, write Merin Broudic and Tracy Dyson, who won the early career research award in the 2012 Research as Art contest for this image.

Drowned Skull

A skull from a drowned archer.

(Image credit: Nick Owen, Jack Dix Davies and Eben Owen-Goodchild, Swansea University and Mary Rose Trust)

This photograph is of a 500-year-old skull taken from King Henry VIII’s Mary Rose warship, which sank in 1545, killing its entire crew. The owner of this skull was probably a high-ranking archer in his late 20s, judging by the artifacts around him and the relative strength of one of his arm bones.

Maggot Mania

A maggot crawls on a woman's nose.

(Image credit: Yamni Nigam, Dr Peter Willshaw, Swansea University)

A maggot crawls on the nose of a "nosy" maggot researcher in this prize-winning photo. Swansea University's Maggot Research Project is centered on understanding how maggots and their secretions can be used in wound care.