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Several rounds of the popular Southern African Science Lens science photography competition have been conducted since 2002 and both professional and amateur photographers have entered wonderful images illustrating and communicating the excitement and impact of science.
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2011 Winner: Science in Action - “Aurora Australis” by Chris Oosthuizen
Description: Aurora australis is also called the Southern Lights. This spectacular and awe-inspiring phenomenon appears in the Antarctic sky in winter. Aurora is the name given to the light that radiates from atoms and molecules in the atmosphere as they release energy. That energy is passed to them when high energetic particles enter the atmosphere at the Poles, directed by the Earth’s magnetic field, and collide with them. When the energy is released again, it is released as light. The colour of the Aurora depends on the elements present in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
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The competition, the only of its kind, is open to all residents in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique.
Never let your camera leave your side … and capture stunning, dramatic, spectacular images related to science and technology. Your images may explain something about science in our everyday lives, show something the human eye never sees, or simply be an attention-grabbing image of the beauty of science.
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2011 Winner: Science Close-up - “Sponges Galore” by Miranda Waldron
Description: This image shows the structural elements of sea sponge. They are called spicules and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The structures that look like microscopic flowers are the spicules of one species of sponge that come together to form a sphere. The ball of spikes is formed by the spicules of another species. This photo was taken with a scanning electron microscope at a magnification of 15 000 times.
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2011 Winner: Science as Art - “Arid Landscape” by Prof. Bruce Cairncross
Description: This polished slab of sandstone from Namibia looks like a desert landscape. Iron oxides that precipitate from solution form patterns in the rock. These are called Leisegang bands. The process of how they form is not properly understood yet.
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The competition is open to scientists, science communicators and science enthusiasts, as well as professional photographers and amateurs with an enthusiasm for science and technology. Researchers and scientists are encouraged to participate to open a window into the world of their science we may never otherwise see.
Send us your original images from all aspects of science: nanotechnology, biotechnology, space science, hydrogen and fuel cell technology, biology, medicine, physics, astronomy, chemistry, technology, engineering, earth sciences, mathematics or any other field of science, engineering or technology.
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2011 Winner: International Year of Chemistry - “Cave of Wonders” by Heinrich Badenhorst
Description: A Scanning Electron Microscope allows us to see this graphite crystal at a magnification of over 30 000 times. It looks like a cave of stalactites and stalagmites, but these structures can be a thousand times thinner than a strand of human hair. When the graphite crystal is burned in oxygen, the impurities in the crystal prevent oxidation and create these wondrous structures.
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2011 Winner: Nanotechnology - “Tiny Fjords” by Heinrich Badenhorst
Description: These dramatic landscapes are caused by impurities in natural graphite crystal that cause these structures to be carved in the crystal when burning in oxygen at high temperatures. These impurities are only detectable using high resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy.
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The competition is organised and sponsored SAASTA. Short-listed entries and winning photographs will be published and will be displayed by SAASTA at public science events and in science centres all over the African continent.
You can enter by post, email or online. The competition closing date is 12 December 2013. All images must be accompanied by an entry form.
For more information, visit www.saasta.ac.za or the competition’s new Facebook page.
By Daphney Molewa, Corporate Communicator, SAASTA
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