Lukas Munz, PhD student at the Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks, is one of the winners of the SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2021. Using a telescope he photographed his research partner Armin Rist during measurements. This snapshot in the high mountains was awarded the first prize in the category «Women and men of science». For the jury, the austere frame of the picture underlines the «importance of mutual trust» under extreme conditions.
The SNSF Scientific Image Competition invites all researchers working in Switzerland to make their work visible to the public and the media. The competition is announced annually by the SNSF and pursues various goals: It aims to highlight the growing importance of images in research, to provide a deeper insight into the practice of science and to make researchers themselves more visible. The competition also aims to encourage the media to use images to report on science in a more multifaceted way. The works are also to be shown to the general public at exhibitions.
The picture by Lukas Munz and Armin Rist won the 1st prize in the category «Women and men of science». The two describe their research on alpine solifluction at Furka as teamwork. They write about it: «This image is emblematic of that spirit. We each do our task alone, but we are connected through the telescope of a surveying instrument. Being connected allows us to work together as a team. Even if there is only one person in focus here, as is so often the case in research, we can only be successful together. The picture shows a field operation on the Blauberg near the Furka Pass. We use a total station and a reflector to measure the positions of points marked in the terrain in order to determine the rate of movement of the frost-induced, downhill soil substrate displacement - so-called solifluction. The unusually early onset of winter took us by surprise, but we were still able to carry out our survey to a large extent.»
The jury states that this image tells a story about the teamwork, solidarity and trust needed during scientific explorations in extreme environments. The framing is strong, with the telescope used here as a device - normally not even intended to take pictures - that connects the remotely operating researchers in their collaborative tasks. Reversing the first impression of a cross-hairs sight where the other becomes a target, it represents the importance of mutual trust in science in a spectacular way.
The description of the winning picture comes from snf.ch.
