Photo Committee to focus on science visualizations, April 24

The April 24 meeting of the National Press Club Photography Committee will feature an illustrated talk by Holly Brown on the National Science Foundation's Vizzies Challenge.

The Vizzies Challenge, formerly known as the Science Visualization Challenge, is a competition that challenges people to submit their best science and engineering visualizations -- photographs, drawings, computer animations, and more.

The foundation notes that "some of science's most powerful statements have not been made in words: Da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man,' Darwin's sketches of the evolutionary tree, ... Rosalind Franklin's X-ray photography of DNA, LIGO's illustration of colliding neutron stars... These visualizations are what enable people, whether or not they have scientific training, to exchange knowledge and to understand scientific ideas and phenomena."

For some examples, see the Vizzies web site.

Holly Brown is a public affairs specialist at NSF. She holds a master's degree in science and technology policy from Georgia Tech and a bachelor's degree in physics and political science from Florida State University.

The meeting is free and open to all Club members and their guests. Lunch will be available for purchase from the Reliable Source Buffet. The meeting will convene at noon in the Cosgrove Lounge. The program begins at about 12:30 p.m. and ends by 1:30 p.m.