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Magnetic Field (from the Retrospective Portfolio)
Magnetic Field (from the Retrospective Portfolio)
Magnetic Field (from the Retrospective Portfolio)

Magnetic Field (from the Retrospective Portfolio)

Artist (American, 1898 - 1991)
Publisher (American)
Datecirca 1932-1958 (printed 1982)
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 18 1/2 × 24 1/2 in. (47 × 62.2 cm)
Support: 30 3/8 × 36 3/8 in. (77.2 × 92.4 cm)
Mat: 30 1/2 × 36 5/8 in. (77.5 × 93 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Susan Steinhauser and Daniel Greenberg, 2014
Object number2014.21.20
Text Entries

In addition to her well-known portraiture work and documentary photography, Abbott was an innovator in the use of photography to document scientific phenomena. Beginning in the late 1940s and until shortly before her death, she made scientific images.

In the late 1950s, Abbott was asked to work with scientists at MIT to create photographic images that could be used for teaching physics. In collaboration with the scientists, she utilized her artistic imagination to develop innovative techniques to document the principles of physical science. Those photographic illustrations made visible the principles of mechanics, electromagnetism, and waves.

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