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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, December 10, 2018 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

photo of Frank Summers

Frank Summers

"Truth and Beauty in Astronomy Visualizations"

ABSTRACT -- In an age of movies with computer graphics superheroes doing the physically impossible and making it seem routine, how do we present science topics to an audience jaded by such cineplex blockbusters? One answer lies in embracing the twin pillars of Truth and Beauty - combining science, computation, and design to reach a broad audience with a sound message. Immense computer simulations provide the verisimilitude of the physics of the universe along with the expansive dynamic range required to fill the giant screen. Complex visualization pipelines eschew the traditional analysis software and have co-opted Hollywood tools for visually rich presentations. In work spanning more than two decades, hundreds of Hubble press releases, dozens of cosmic sequences, and five IMAX films, Dr. Summers has balanced the accuracy of astronomical research with the aesthetics of cinematic arts in order to create grand scenes of astronomical splendor.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Frank Summers s an outreach astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. For almost two decades, he has contributed to all aspects of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope press, education, and outreach through news media, websites, educational programs, social media, museums and planetariums.

His specialty is as an "astrovizicist," creating accurate and aesthetic scientific visualizations by combining research computer simulations and Hollywood rendering techniques. His credits include writer, science advisor, and scientific visualization supervisor on the IMAX film Hubble 3D, and a science and script advisor on IMAX A Beautiful Planet. He contributed data, science, and visuals to the Academy Award-nominated IMAX film Cosmic Voyage, and directed the IMAX short film Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time, winner of the LFCA Best Short Film award (2004).

Dr. Summers obtained his B.S. in Physics at Virginia Tech, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley.

Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov