Chemistry photographers: documentation and art

Abstract

This paper highlights the work of photographers that have contributed with an artistic vision to the graphic documentation of chemistry, through its protagonists, their laboratories, the substances, and their reactions. First a collection of portraits of famous chemists, made since the invention of the daguerreotype until the end of World War II, is reviewed. In second place, special attention is paid to the work of the German photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch, well known for his photographs of nature and urban and industrial architecture, but who has left us simple and fascinating images of glassware for the laboratory, as well as to the Northamerican science photographer Fritz Goro. Third, examples of photographers and scientists who have successfully illustrated several chemical reactions in books are given. Finally, brief comments are made on the work of photographers more related to physics, as well as that of other artists with scarce but interesting contributions in the field of chemistry.