The new life of scientific drawing

By Renaud Chabrier and Matthieu Piel

Abstract

How can drawing make science easier to understand? Renaud Chabrier starts the lecture with an overview on the relationship between science and drawing throughout history. He exposes a variety of examples including Lorenzetti’s painting, Da Vinci’s drawings and Bosch’s sketches. Matthieu Piel then sums up the main steps of his research on cell migration. He expounds on the “Migrate with cells” project he has developed with Renaud Chabrier. He also talks about his collaboration with Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil and the movie he has made for the American Society for Cell Biology. The lecture ends with a presentation of Globule, an illustrated book that makes cell biology accessible to the general public.

Summary

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:01:50 – 1. The relationship between drawing and science throughout history
00:01:56 – 1.1. Lorenzetti’s painting and the start of central perspective in art
00:03:49 – 1.2. The animated paintings from the Lascaux and Chauvet caves
00:07:15 – 1.3. The representation of movement in Da Vinci’s drawings
00:14:50 – 1.4. The concept of abstraction in Bosch’s sketches
00:16:45 – 1.5. The scientific representation of the body in Hooke and Haeckel’s drawings
00:20:13 – 1.6. The mastering of perspective in 19th century paintings
00:22:17 – 1.7. Breaking the rules of perspective with Manet
00:22:50 – 1.8. The use of photography by Koch and Marey
00:27:12 – 1.9. Contemporary scientific representation of elements by Radvanyi and Allory

00:30:57 – 2. Piel and Chabrier’s collaboration on cell migration
00:32:35 – 2.1. Piel’s resume, from microfluidic channels to “Migrate with cells”
00:35:24 – 2.2. “Migrate with cells”, Piel and Chabrier’s workshop for children
00:43:16 – 2.3. Piel and Lennon-Duménil’s research on immune cell migration
00:48:00 – 2.4. Piel and Chabrier’s collaboration on the MICEMICO project
00:52:25 – 2.5. The Big Squeeze, Piel and Chabrier’s movie for the American Society for Cell Biology

00:59:05 – 3. Globule, Piel, Lennon-Duménil and Chabrier’s book on cell biology
01:00:20 – 3.1. The genesis of Globule
01:02:02 – 3.2. The story of Globule
01:10:38 – 3.3. The storytelling’s technique in Globule
01:11:55 – 3.4. Chabrier’s new graphic novel project on cell biology

01:14:27 – Conclusion