Nano-Cars to Race Across Atomic Obstacle Course

Teams of chemists and materials scientists at Ohio University built the Bobcat Nanowagon for the event.

NanoArt is a glimpse into an unbelievably tiny world that only a small number of scientists have viewed. For the average person, the realm of nanotechnology -- that is, structures smaller than a billionth of a meter -- is as remote and inaccessible as the moon. But nanoartist Cris Orfrescu wanted to change that. He created the NanoArt Exhibition to share the beauty of the nano-world with those of us living in the macro-world. Using electron microscopes, scientists capture images of nano-sized landscapes and then colorize them with digital photography software in order to create pieces of art. The following images are winners from the 2011 competition. Although you may be interested in learning what the image is, Orfrescu wants the public to see the nano-world independent of its source, for just its simple beauty. So with that in mind, we'll give you information about the artist and his or her inspiration, when known.

Plasticity in Steel Micro-pillars Siddhardtha Pathak was born in India and studied Metallurgical Engineering. He has a PhD in Materials Science and focuses on steel in his work. He currently works at the California Institute of Technology. As an artist, he's been featured all over the world. His inspiration comes from testing mechanical forces at the submicron scales. His images of steel used in space applications won him first place.

Wreck Elena Lucia Constantinescu is a scientist in cellular biology. After many years of working with her microscope in the lab, she wanted to share the world she saw. She said, "I was astonished by the countless possibilities offered by digital technology to turn the photos into artistic images. And I started to draw." Her colorized image of cellular biology won her second place.

Xura Bjorn Dampfling grew up in Northern Germany and has been an artist for the last 10 years. Dampfling likes to use pieces that speak to his artistic sentiments. In this example, he develops "wood into a piece of art, not by hiding its given structures, but by enhancing, twisting, coloring and using dozens of plates... (and) painting digitally into the images." His image Xura came in third place.

Fissure I Artist Carol Flaitz is married to an IBM electron microscopist and was awed by images he would bring home. She began to paint the pieces large scale using various materials in combination with the images to create texture. She says that her work is a reflection of her own marriage, where art and technology unite. Fissure I came in fourth place.

Birth of the World Daniela Caceta works on computer-generated artwork in Brazil. When using an electron microscope, she encounters interesting features such as formation, growth, development and mostly, the morphology of nanostructures. She talks of her works as an extension of the ancient Greek manipulation of dyes and pottery. She said they "were unaware of the size of the particles with which they were dealing, (but) they created colorful pottery glazes by manipulating nano-sized particles." Birth of the World came in fifth.

Spirals Rorivaldo Camargo was born in San Carlos and has spent eight years in electron microscopy. Five years ago, he began working with NanoArt and has magnified items up to a million times before colorizing them and displaying them around the world. Spirals won him sixth place.

Alumina Nanohairs Simona Barison graduated as a researcher of material science and is working on the synthesis and characterization of materials. She also focuses on advanced components for fuel cells and cooling devices in the Department of Energy and Transport. These beta-alumina nanohairs are seen under an electron microscope and came about through a physical reaction. Alumina Nanohairs won seventh place.

Quasicrystal Blossoms Teja Krasek has a degree in painting, and her work is focused on symmetry as a linking concept between art and science. She uses computers and traditional painting for colorization. She enjoys a shape's inner relations and incorporates mathematical relationships in her art, including "Fibonacci sequences, inward infinity and perceptual ambiguity." Quasicrystal Blossoms earned her eighth place.

Entanglio, based on quantum entangled particles Jack Mason has been creating his "nanographs" since 2002. As a journalist covering the commercialization of nanotech, he became fascinated with the scientific images that were part of the stories he was reporting. His pieces are developed using layers of atomic or molecular-scale images and structures. Entanglio, based on quantum entangled particles, earned ninth place.

Colorized Bird Nest Joel Kahn has been combining math, geometry and computers to produce artworks. He uses a powerful programming environment called BASIC-256 to artfully represent his images. In this case he used a previous image and altered the colors and details of the original image. The original image (Bird Nest) was provided by Cris Orfescu to those who do not have access to electronic microscopy.