Jury Distinction in the SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2022
© 2022 EPFL
Congratulations to Thibault Roch, Ph.D. at LSMS, who was awarded a Jury Distinction in the SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2022 in the category "Object of Study" for his image "Moutains of friction".
The SNSF Image Competition casts an unconventional light on research conducted in Switzerland. 14 works have been selected by the jury and will be exhibited at the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography from 6 to 29 May 2022, with a Guided tour with the researchers happening on 12 May 2022. The work of Thibault Roch, Ph.D at LSMS, is an abstract image representing the results of a numerical simulation of earthquakes. The objective of this study is to understand how anomalous statistical properties, notably fat-tailed power-law distributions, emerge in frictional systems. The visualization of the data results in a mountainous landscape, illustrating the apparent complexity of the statistics. The shades of blue represent the velocity in an abstract map: continuous patches of dark blue correspond to slip events separated by waiting periods in white.
Comment by the jury :
"An abstract image quite unlike any other, demonstrating that computer calculations can accidentally produce something beautiful. Aesthetically appealing, but also mysterious, it has the viewer wondering what it is they’re looking at. It is a playful and self-referential image, as plate tectonics lie at the origin of both the earthquakes studied here and of the mountains the picture reminds us of."