Dee Breger

It's a spectacular show of undulating folds, dramatic ridges and brilliant lighting. This artistic display is revealed not on canvas but under the lens of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). For Dee Breger, manager of the SEM Facility at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, images such as this have been the theme of her oeuvre for the past 19 years.

"This is a microtektite," says Breger, referring to one of the many samples she has used as sources for her photographs. "It's derived from rock that melted or vaporized as it was blasted into the atmosphere during a cosmic impact some 35 million years ago in what is now the Chesapeake Bay."

An artist among scientists, Breger has found the right balance between her artistic and scientific sensibilities at Lamont-Doherty. She is a one-woman show-preparing samples, operating the SEM and using the picture-editing software Adobe Photoshop to infuse color and accent the delicate structures. Her photographs, exhibited in several museums worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, are now on view through November 8 at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J.

"When the first SEM came, it revolutionized taxonomy," she says. "For the first time you could see structural details that were not visible before and so the way of classification had to change with the technology."

Before the advent of the transmission electron microscope in the 1930s, the light microscope was the tool of choice for scientists. Unlike its predecessor, the electron microscope uses electrons rather than light to illuminate a sample. In the SEM, these electrons are able to bring into view a three-dimensional image.

Another advantage of the SEM is that it can take a sharp, clear picture up to many hundreds of thousands of times the actual size, and some higher-end models can magnify into the million times range.

For Breger who was originally accustomed to hand drawing objects viewed under the optical microscope, the SEM was a technological wonder. She quickly learned how to operate the electron microscope and was drawn to the images as an artist.

One of her signature pictures is of the microplankton. "It's one of my favorite samples," says Breger. "It's astonishing that a one-celled organism can build phenomenal architecture that is breathtakingly beautiful. To many people it looks like a Christmas tree ornament."

Beyond the aesthetics are the tales that come to light through the micrographs, providing medical researchers and scientists with a wealth of information about such topics as disease, the climate and all aspects of the physical planet.

"This is a tree ring sequence from a Siberian pine in Mongolia, dating back to years 535 through 538 A.D.," explains Breger, who is equally adept at discussing the science behind the art. "In the middle of the year 536, the Northern Hemisphere became extremely cold. This caused the sap in the tree pits to freeze and explode during the growing season, which affected the growth rings in the following years. There are two theories for why it was so cold: one is massive volcanism and the other cosmic impact."

Although she spends most of her time in the laboratory, Breger has on occasion seen the samples in their natural settings. She has been to places as diverse as Antarctica, the Tropics and the Mediterranean, bringing back stories of a modern day explorer. Breger is quick to add, however, that the work is not all glamour and fun. She recalls one recent expedition in which she spent four days working round the clock with only five hours of sleep.

What began for Breger as a summer job soon became a surreal journey into the microworld, replete with oddly shaped microorganisms and psychedelic color schemes. Her work over the years has culminated in two books: "Journeys in Microspace: The Art of the Scanning Electron Microscope" (Columbia University Press, 1995) and "Through the Electronic Looking Glass: 3-D Images from a Scanning Electron Microscope" (Cygnus Graphic, 1995).

Nineteen years and 24 expeditions later, Breger has carved out a unique career as a microscopic artist and ambassador of science.

"Every picture tells a story," she says, "and the stories are marvelous and wonderful. In a sense these pictures are a vehicle for the public's greater awareness of science without them even knowing that's what the photos are doing."

The SEM Breger used to create the images as seen in the article has just been traded in for a new top of the line model with an X-ray microanalyzer attachment that analyzes the chemical composition of the samples.

For further information or to schedule a research session, please call (845) 365-8640 or write to micro@ldeo.columbia.edu.

Thyroid hormones, x 8500 if viewed at 4x5 size, which are hormones produced by the thyroid gland that affect every cell in the body, regulating metabolism as well as contributing to the development of the brain and bones in growing children. Shown here is the first part of the two-stage hormone production process, in which thyroid protein is being secreted into a storage chamber, called a follicle, from cells lining the chamber's walls.	This is an example of Mongolian frost rings, x 25 if viewed at 4x5 size. Overlapping tree ring sequences have helped dendrochronologists reconstruct a detailed history of the Earth's climate for the past several thousand years. The rings in this image are from a Siberian pine in Mongolia and cover the years 534-539 CE. In 536 the northern hemisphere suddenly cooled, causing sap to freeze and deform the growing cells. The second narrow ring implies continued cold weather in 537.
A Microtektite, x 200 if viewed at 4x5 size. Tektites are glassy fragments formed from molten or vaporized Earth rock ejected into the atmosphere by cataclysmic impacts of comets or asteroids. This tiny one was formed 35 million years ago when a cosmic body slammed into what is now Chesapeake Bay.	An Engorged deer tick, x 12 if viewed at 4x5 size. Deer ticks are found throughout most of the United States, where they are notorious as carriers of Lyme Disease. This satiated adult was pulled from a dog by a veterinarian, and still has a fragment of the animal's skin and hair impaled on its dagger-like mouth parts.
All images copyright dee Breger, 2001