Congratulations to the 2023 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit “Science as Art” Winners! By popular vote, the following images were chosen as 2nd Place Winners.

As a special feature of the MRS Spring and Fall Meetings, the Materials Research Society offers the popular “Science as Art” competition with entry open to all registered meeting attendees.

Visualization methods provide an important tool in materials science for the analysis and presentation of scientific work. Images can often convey information in a way that tables of data or equations cannot match. Occasionally, scientific images transcend their role as a medium for transmitting information and contain the aesthetic qualities that transform them into objects of beauty and art.

figure a

Mind Blown

Conrad Hessels, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Scanning electron microscope image of combusted iron powder.

figure b

Flames

Sobhan Katebifar, University of Connecticut

Enamel is the outer part of the tooth that covers the crown and protects the underlying dental structures. It contains 96% of minerals. This is an image from a lower incisor of a murine tooth with 10-mm height and 1-mm thickness. A scanning electron microscope was used to take the image from the enamel part. The sample was wrapped with copper and sputtered with Au/Pd. It was taken with 5 kV and 13 nA in high vacuum and backscatter mode. The magnification is 1500×.

figure c

Molecular Snowfall over Carbon Mountain

Sukkyung Kang, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes were embedded in polyurethane, and partial protrusion was achieved through Ar plasma etching.