“For me, this project is about making science visible in society,” says Herlinde Koelbl, a renowned German photo artist whose portrait series, “Fascination of Science,” is now on display at MIT. Koelbl set herself the goal to photograph scientists and to show their motivation, influences, and ways of thinking — through the eyes of an artist. The portraits juxtapose the subjects’ faces with scientific concepts, advice, or reflections playfully inscribed on their palms. Individually, each picture or phrase speaks to the researcher’s personal quest for knowledge — everything from nucleotide…
