SNSF Scientific Image Competition

The second edition of the SNSF Scientific Image Competition met with lively interest among researchers. By the closing date for applications at the end of January 2018, more than 350 entries had been submitted from all regions of Switzerland. An international jury selected one winner and two distinctions in each of four categories.

All the award-winning entries as well as many others will be shown at this year’s Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography from 4 to 27 May 2018. Sarah Girard, the new director of the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography, is looking forward to exhibiting the images: “They’re images that transcend the laboratory using narrative, art and sometimes humour. The diversity of the images is astonishing, and the subjects and themes provoke surprising reactions.”

The images are also expected to be shown at the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) in autumn 2018 and at other exhibition venues. All entries submitted are available under a Creative Commons licence and can be used by the media as well as by any other interested parties for non-commercial purposes without restriction, with author attribution.

First prize

First prize in Category “Locations and instruments” went to the image of the excavation in the Gymnasium of Eretria by Guy Ackermann (University of Lausanne) and Rocco Tettamanti (Archaeological Service of Fribourg). The image shows the pivotal moment of discovery. Two hands meet: the hand of the archaeologist and the hand of a marble statue of a Roman general or emperor. Separated by centuries, united in this instant, the archaeologist extracts the hand from the sand. Here, you can still do science using a simple trowel.

Discovery of a marble hand in the Gymnasium of Eretria (phot. G. Ackermann – R. Tettamanti, 2018, ©ESAG)