Revealing Science - Nobel Prize

Created in 2023, these four polarizer portraits were created to celebrate the first four female Physics Nobel Prize Laureates (those who had been awarded when these portraits were created). The medium of these portraits - polarizers and cellophane - only reveals the vibrant colors when viewed through a polarizer film. These portraits are on display at the Ingersoll Physics Museum in Madison, WI.


This project was supported by the University of Wisconsin - Madison Physics department.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Dr. Skłodowska-Curie was awarded 1/3 of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both she and Pierre Curie were awarded the prize for " the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel"

Polarizer film and cellophane. 2023



Maria Goeppert Mayer

Dr. Goeppert Mayer was awared 1/4 of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both she and ___ were awarded the prize for "their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"

Polarizer film and cellophane. 2023



Donna Strickland

Dr. Strickland was awarded 1/4 of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both she and Gérard Mourou were awarded the prize for "their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses."

Polarizer film and cellophane. 2023


Andrea Ghez

Dr. Ghez was awarded 1/4 of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both she and Reinhard Genzel were awarded the prize for "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."

Polarizer film and cellophane. 2023