Physics and Photography: Lab Visitors Capture the Beauty of Science

The winning photos from Brookhaven Lab’s first-ever Photowalk showcase top research facilities in new ways

On Sept. 22, 2012, Brookhaven National Lab invited amateur and professional photographers to a three-hour, behind-the-scenes tour of the laboratory. The cutting-edge experiments explore the fringes of fundamental science and represent singular achievements in design and engineering. The photographers lent their considerable talent to capturing these marvels, and the results exceeded all expectations, showcasing these top facilities as never before.

After receiving more than 100 stunning submissions that revealed these facilities in new ways, a group of Lab volunteers, including scientists and support staff, selected the top 10 images seen above. The first five of these advanced to the worldwide Physics Photowalk competition, run by the particle physics collaboration Interactions.org, where they went head-to-head against photographs from 10 of the top science facilities all over the world.

Congratulations to Brookhaven’s overall winner, Enrique Diaz, whose unique shot of the STAR detector captured the attention of the judges and fascinated the scientists who work with that instrument.