This website is brought to you by the Optical Microscopy Division of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, a joint venture of The Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The director of the Optical Microscopy Division is Michael W. Davidson, a research scientist who has been involved with various aspects of microscopy for the past 25 years.

Davidson's scientific interests include the packaging of DNA into virus heads, liquid crystallinity in biological systems, and the adsorption of small liquid crystal molecules onto surfaces. He has published many scientific articles in these fields. His photomicrographs have appeared on the covers of over 600 scientific, industrial, and popular periodicals and books (including such prestigious titles as: Nature, Science, Physics World, and Physics Today) and he has written or been the subject of more than 75 articles on the subject of Art in Science in popular scientific and photography magazines through the world including Popular Science, Scientific American, Popular Photography, National Geographic, and Discover. The website has also been described in feature articles from other websites including Wired.com, Slashdot, Newsweek, USAToday, Focus, Washington Post, New York Times, and the San Jose Mercury News.

Michael Davidson's photomicrography has won more than 40 awards in scientific and industrial photography competitions, and he is the only two-time grand prize winner of the Polaroid International Photomicrography Competition.

In video format, Davidson's photomicrographs have appeared on the CNN and MTV television networks and his work has been the subject of feature segments on ABC's "Good Morning America", "CNN's Headline News", Discovery's "Beyond 2000", TBS's "Ripley's Believe it or Not! and CBS's "How'd They Do That?", in addition to numerous local stories from networks in the United States and Europe.

Framed prints of Davidson's micrographs have been exhibited at over 50 locations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Research Council Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the Pacific Coast Science Center in Seattle, the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, the International Center for Photography and Sotheby's in New York City.

In addition, Davidson's photomicrographs have been incorporated into a variety of products as described in our product information section. The most famous incorporation of these photomicrographs has been in Stonehenge Ltd.s' series of designer neckties termed the "Molecular Expressions" collections that have included neckties sporting a variety of photomicrographs.

Our laboratory is currently involved in a number of investigations including photomicrography of integrated circuits (primarily microprocessors), archeological artifacts, superconductors, and various products of consumer interest. Please check out our custom photomicrography page for samples that are of interest to us. We will photograph the samples listed on this page free of charge.

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Last Modification Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 01:18 PM

Access Count Since September 12, 1995: 375438

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