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For much of human history, books have been the repositories of our collective wisdom, the preferred vehicle for advancing our understanding and the best means for sharing that knowledge with future generations. Today, even as new technologies threaten the primacy of the printed word, it is worth remembering that the writers, illustrators and publishers who made books such an important part of our intellectual history were themselves champions of technical progress. Take, for instance, the illustrations featured on Illumination's cover and in our center spreads, each selected from works included in the upcoming show, "The Art of the Book: Illustration and Design, 1650 to Present," at MU's Museum of Art and Archaeology. According to exhibition curator Joan Stack, these beautiful tomes would likely not have been produced had not the printers, binders, lithographers and other forward-thinking artisans of the day fully embraced industrial innovation. They would have been excited, she says, about using the latest technologies to explore new directions in creating books and in coming up with better ways of sharing their work with an ever-wider public. The faculty scientists and scholars featured in this edition of Illumination are similarly devoted to employing the latest technology in the service of innovation, creation and discovery. In this issue, for example, you'll encounter two engineers who are exploring how next-generation lasers can change the face of modern material science and medicine; a microbiologist who is harnessing the power of genetics to unravel the secrets of a deadly childhood disease; a climate expert who is using sophisticated satellite data to chart the rise and fall of Antarctic ice; and a plant scientist who has answered one of the most vexing questions in plant pollination. I think you'll enjoy learning more about the work of these and the other researchers who are featured on these pages. But I hope you won't stop there. Like the scholars, scientists and artists mentioned above, we're not shy about innovation either. You will find even more scholarship to explore, including a host of interactive features, on our web site: http://illumination.missouri.edu.
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To request an issue or subscribe to Illumination, contact us at Illumination, Office of Research, 205 Jesse Hall, Columbia MO 65211. |
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Sharing Knowledge 