Friday 16 April to Sunday 6 June 2010

This exhibition celebrates the achievements of today’s British scientists from a diverse range of fields.

The work of all the scientists in this display has shaped and influenced the world we live in and the exhibition coincides with the 350th anniversary celebrations this year of the Royal Society London.

The theme of the exhibition is connected with the pioneering work of Julia Margaret Cameron and her photographs of Victorian scientists such as Charles Darwin and

Sir John Herschel.

Purkiss’ black and white photographs were taken over a period of 25 years between 1985 and 2010, and this is the first time the complete collection has been exhibited. The display includes photographs of Nobel Prize winners Sir Tim Hunt, Sir Martin Evans, the vice-president of the Royal Society Dame Jean Thomas, Sir Alec Jeffreys who developed DNA fingerprinting and the environmentalist Sir Peter Scott.

Anne-Katrin Purkiss graduated from Leipzig University, Germany, with a degree in photography and journalism in 1983.

She moved to England in 1984, working for four years at Associated Press, before becoming a freelance photographer.

Her commissions include work for government departments and agencies and her photographs are held in several public collections (such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts library and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds).

Picture Credit: Sir Timothy Hunt, Nobel Prize Winner, Anne-Katrin Purkiss, 2008©