A portrait of trailblazing astronomer Henrietta Leavitt and an illustrated exploration of the power of attention in scientific observation, artistic creation, and the making of meaning. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has a diameter of about 100,000 light years--a figure we can calculate because of the work of Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), who spent decades studying glass plate photographs of the night sky. Visual artist and researcher Anna Von Mertens's
Attention Is Discovery is a fascinating portrait of this remarkable woman who laid the foundation for modern cosmology, as well as an exploration of the power of looking and its revelatory role at the center of scientific discovery. Ushering us into the scientific community of women who worked alongside Leavitt, now known as the Harvard Computers, Von Mertens describes the inventive methodologies Leavitt devised to negotiate the era's emerging photographic technology.
Interspersed with Von Mertens's meticulously researched and lyrically written essays are collaborations with art historian Jennifer L. Roberts, cosmologist Wendy Freedman, astrophysicist João Alves, and novelist Rebecca Dinerstein Knight. Alongside Leavitt's process, evident in her astronomical logbooks and ink notations on the glass plates, Von Mertens includes details of the hand-stitched quilts and graphite drawings she made in response to Leavitt's legacy. Photographs made by Jennifer L. Roberts using a macro lens amplify the material richness of these artworks and archives. This interweaving of text and image engages and rewards the reader's own close attention. Highlighting ways that subtle, repeated actions build meaning--whether skilled, technical observation, the crafting of an object, or the mundane tasks that construct our exquisite lives--Von Mertens's pairing of close looking with close reading creates a layered portrait of Henrietta Leavitt that acknowledges the significance of her discovery and the richness of its inheritance.
一幅開創性天文學家亨麗葉塔·李維特的肖像，以及對科學觀察、藝術創作和意義建構中注意力力量的插圖探索。
我們的銀河系，銀河，直徑約為100,000光年——這個數字是我們能夠計算出來的，因為亨麗葉塔·李維特（1868-1921）的工作，她花了數十年研究夜空的玻璃板照片。視覺藝術家和研究者安娜·馮·梅滕斯的《注意力即發現》是對這位卓越女性的迷人肖像，她為現代宇宙學奠定了基礎，同時也是對觀察力量及其在科學發現中心的啟示性角色的探索。馮·梅滕斯引領我們進入與李維特並肩工作的女性科學社群，現在被稱為哈佛計算機，描述了李維特為應對當時新興的攝影技術而設計的創新方法。
在馮·梅滕斯精心研究和富有詩意的文章中，穿插著與藝術史學家詹妮弗·L·羅伯茨、宇宙學家溫迪·弗里德曼、天體物理學家若昂·阿爾維斯和小說家麗貝卡·迪納斯坦·奈特的合作。除了李維特的過程，這些在她的天文日誌和玻璃板上的墨水註記中顯而易見的，馮·梅滕斯還包括了她對李維特遺產的回應所製作的手工縫製被子和石墨畫的細節。詹妮弗·L·羅伯茨使用微距鏡頭拍攝的照片放大了這些藝術作品和檔案的物質豐富性。文本與圖像的交織吸引並回報讀者的細緻注意。強調微妙的重複行動如何構建意義——無論是熟練的技術觀察、物件的製作，還是構建我們精緻生活的平凡任務——馮·梅滕斯將細緻的觀察與細緻的閱讀相結合，創造出一幅多層次的亨麗葉塔·李維特肖像，承認她的發現的重要性及其遺產的豐富性。
Anna Von Mertens is the recipient of a 2010 United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Arts and a 2021-2022 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Her exhibition Measure, presented at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, traveled to the University Galleries of Illinois State University and Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College.
