Heat – September 1954
Inner cone of a flame burning on a nozzle in the National Bureau of Standards.
Photograph by Paul Weller / Art director, James Grunbaum
Crystal Growth – March 1955
Photomicrograph of a single crystal of cadmium iodide growing in a water solution.
Photograph by J.B. Newkirk / Art director, James Grunbaum
Giant Scintillation Counter — January 1956
Top view of a large scintillation counter used in an attempt to detect an elusive particle of modern physics: the neutrino.
Painting by Walter Murch / Art director, James Grunbaum
Locust and Wind Tunnel – March 1956
Locust flying against the air stream of a wind tunnel.
Painting by Rudolf Freund / Art director, James Grunbaum
Elephant Experiment – February 1957
“A somewhat fanciful representation of a psychological experiment in the zoo in the city of Münster.”
Painting by John Langley Howard / Art director, James Grunbaum
Ultrahigh Vacuum – March 1962
The essential parts of a laboratory system for producing an ultrahigh vacuum.
Painting by Rudolf Freund / Art director, James Grunbaum
Afterimage Test Pattern – October 1963
“A test pattern to demonstrate visual afterimages”.
Cover design by Joan Starwood / Art director, James Grunbaum
“Split Brain Experiment” – January 1964
Painting by Thomas Prentiss / Art director, James Grunbaum
[ Editor's note: Sandi and I both shudder at this project. ]
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Last month I visited the estate sale of a wonderfully curious couple. Art, travel and science appeared to be their burning passions. Tucked in the back of an attic bedroom was a goodly stack of Scientific American magazines from the 1950s and 1960s. I’ve always been enamored by the spare aesthetic of SciAm’s covers, the quality of the graphics uniformly stellar. The snapshot of the times provided by the articles within is equally delightful. Though, while reading the articles, it’s impossible not to imagine the sonorous tones of the narrator of a 1950s science class film.
>> Scientific American flickr set
[ All images © ]
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Sandi Vincent grew up in the bay area of California surrounded by mid-century modern architecture and other influences responsible for her affinity for the period and its pop style, including her early exposure to The Monkees, The Avengers and Gerald McBoing-Boing. Sandi now resides in Portland. In her day job at a community foundation, she sports the web/social media/print materials coordinator title.
Follow Sandi on Twitter > @SandiV
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