Atomic, Molecular and Orbital Iconography in Post-War Design

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The project will investigate the role of visualisation techniques in communicating, reflecting and shaping professional and popular understandings of science in post-war Britain. The historical case study concerns the diffusion of images developed from new X-ray crystallography techniques for imaging structures at the atomic and molecular scale: their inroads into daily life through designers' adaptation and adoption of these images for surface patterns and 3D objects for purchase and use by the British public. The context for the research is historical-interest in clarifying our understanding of post-war British culture and society through new perspectives-but also contemporary, namely current renewed interest in understanding and communicating the impact of scientific discoveries in areas such as DNA sequencing and sub-atomic particle physics in society today. In this aspect, the project supports the strategic initiative in Science and Culture proposed for this round of research funding.The student will be based within History of Design at the Royal College of Art ('RCA') and the curatorial services department of the Science Museum. These two institutions share not only their origin in the 1851 Exhibition and location in Kensington, but also internationally-recognized expertise in historical research that uses artefacts-objects, images-and oral histories to illuminate the contexts within which these artefacts have had meaning, and of the impact these artefacts have had on culture and society in the period they were made and subsequently. In History of Design and the RCA , the student will become part of a vibrant cohort of emerging and established researchers working in design and visual communication history and practice. At the Science Museum, the student will join a research community concerned with the presence of science in everyday life, and with the effective communication of the history of science and contemporary developments to a general audience, a concern that parallels the subject of this research. The project aims to contribute to the scholarly and general understanding of post-war British design, cultural and social history by sharing new knowledge of the impact of scientific discovery and its popular imaging on design practice and production, and to the history of modern British science by raising awareness of the importance of design in communicating scientific understanding and discovery to the public.Expected research outcomes include not only scholarly publications that will contribute to specialist and student knowledge in the history of post-war Britain, the history of modern science and the history of design, but also a major contribution to the X-ray crystallography exhibit in the Making of Modern Science Gallery at the Science Museum that will communicate and interpret the import of scientific discovery and its imaging in everyday life for a broad public audience. Research findings about the relationship between scientific visualisation techniques and the visual and material culture of everyday life in the post-war period may also serve as comparison for contemporary analyses of the impact and popular understanding of new imaging techniques being developed and deployed in areas such as climate science, genetics and sub-atomic physics today.