Martin Kemp is the author of the widely acclaimed weekly pages "Art and Science" and "Science and Image" which have been appearing in Nature since 1997. In this visually stunning book, he brings together these fascinating articles discussing the interactions between the visual arts and science. A lively introduction describes Kemp's novel approach to the subject. Instead of describing the influence of art on science or vice-versa he emphasises the structural intuitions shared by artists and scientists. In over 75 articles, each accompanied by one or more full colour images, a wide range of art and science are covered; from Leonardo's Mona Lisa to Robert Hooke's stunning image of the eye of a fly in a microscope, and from abstract mathematics to the illustrative modes the horror movie and commercial logos. The study of the relationship between the visual worlds of the artist and the scientist is placed on a new basis. The result is a unique and fascinating book which will be of great interest to artists and scientists alike.

Bilder bestimmen unsere Weltsicht. Von den Benutzeroberflächen unserer digitalen Programmwelten bis zur grafischen Veranschaulichung politischer Entscheidungen am Wahlabend – niemals zuvor hatte das Bild bei der Vermittlung von Wissen einen solchen Stellenwert. In den aktuellen Diskussionen wird deshalb der Ruf nach Aufklärung, nach kritischer Analyse dieser Bilderflut immer größer. Die Kunsthistorik betreibt wie kein anderer Wissenschaftszweig die Analyse von Inhalt und Formen der Bilder. Erstmals hat einer ihrer renommiertesten Vertreter, der in Oxford lehrende Kunsthistoriker Martin Kemp, die Initiative ergriffen und sich in die Welt der Naturwissenschaften eingemischt. Von Leonardos Zeichnungen bis zu physikalischen Modellen des Atomzeitalters: Kemp beobachtet in einer seit 1998 in der Zeitschrift »Nature« erscheinenden Essayfolge, wie die Naturwissenschaft von der Verbildlichung ihrer Forschung abhängig ist und dass das mit neutralen Formen überzeugend wirkende Modell ebenso wie die unüberbietbar sachlich erscheinende Grafik kritisch zu analysieren sind.Die chronologisch geordneten Artikel sind ein Beitrag zur aktuellen Diskussion um die Macht der Bilder. Gleichzeitig bieten Sie Kunstinteressierten neue Einblicke in naturwissenschaftliche Phänomene – ein Buch, das sich innovativ zwischen den Disziplinen und damit in einem Bereich bewegt, der den Fortschritt der Wissenschaft im 21. Jahrhundert befördern wird.

Martin Kemp's provocative essays on the interplay between art and science have been entertaining readers of Nature, the world's leading journal for the announcement of scientific discoveries, since 1997. These short, illustrated, highly regarded essays generally focus on one visual image from art or science and provide an evocative and erudite investigation into shared motifs in the two disciplines. Gathered together here with a delightfully rich introduction by the author, the essays take our understanding to an exciting new level as they transgress the traditional boundaries between art and science.
The images under consideration cover Western art from the Renaissance to the present day, and the science ranges from abstract mathematics to the illustrative modes of natural history and medicine. Kemp skillfully discusses the Mona Lisa as well as horror films, Galileo's moon drawings and diagrams in modern physics, Renaissance pottery and logos on trucks, the invention of perspective, and contemporary masterpieces.
Rather than charting the mutual influence of art and science upon each other, these essays look to the deeper structures that find expression in art and science; they reveal the "structural intuitions" shared by artists and scientists when confronting the world. This volume contains all the pieces published in Nature under the banners of "Art and Science" and "Science and Image," together with some from Kemp's recent "Science and Culture" series. The essays are presented thematically rather than chronologically, arranged to stimulate critical ideas about the nature of the image at the intersection of art and science, now and in the past.