Home    Search    Sitemap Home About us Contact details Core business units Education Science Awareness Science Communication Competitions Young Science Communicators SA Science Lens Magazine EasyScience News & events Thematic Months Media Zone News in Brief Events calendar Projects National Science Olympiad National Science Week Primary Science Day Public Understanding of Biotechnology Women in Physics SASCON network Resources Downloads Logo library Useful links SA Science Lens Explore this section SA Science Lens home About SA Science Lens Categories Rules How to enter Prizes Judges Winners - 2009 winners - 2007 winners - 2005/6 winners - 2004 winners - 2003 winners - 2002 winners Inspiration Contact us Our sponsor Contact SA Science Lens Tel: 012 392-9320 2009 Winners Category 3: Science as Art Winner Enlarged view Photographer: Mr Kim van Zyl Title: Nature's Crystal Description: The image shows water drops that have formed on a grass seed after a heavy mist. It shows the refractive properties of a convex "lens" that is formed by the drops of water. The magnifying effect can also clearly be seen in the way that the grass seed filaments have been "enlarged". Runner Up Enlarged view Photographer: Prof Alvaro Viljoen Title: Hoodia Star Description: In the past few years there has been increased commercial interest in the Hoodia plant indigenous to South Africa and used as an appetite suppressant. The live plant is really not photogenic...then I received a sample for research purposes from Namibia. I was struck by the intricate shapes and texture of the dried stem in cross-section and this made me realize there is always something beautiful to see (find) in nature. Runner Up Enlarged view Photographer: Mr Oleg Toumilovitch Title: Dynamic light 2 Description: The image shows an optical effect, produced by two laser beams - red and green. Two laser beams are combined, so they exit an optical system as a yellow beam (as seen in the centre). The combined beam passes through two diffractive optical components (with identical pattern-dots in this case) rotating in opposite directions. The light is refracted by these optical components, but at different angles due to different wavelengths of green and red light, causing a difference in the distance between the dots for both lasers. Top   The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) is an agency of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Promotion of Access to Information | Terms & Conditions | Contact the Webmaster | Tel: +27 12 392-9300, Fax: +27 12 320-7803 | 211 Skinner St, Box 1758, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa Documents on this site are made available in Adobe PDF format and are viewed in Adobe Acrobat Reader.