PRESS RELEASE 1 November 2006 25 Years of Blood, Bugs and Beauty as Science Photo Library Celebrates its Silver Anniversary Science Photo Library (SPL), the world's leading provider of science images, celebrates its silver anniversary this month. SPL shares its 25th birthday with some of the world's leading scientific events, including the first launch of a space shuttle, AIDS being recognised as a disease and IBM launching its first PC. Above: Relay runners, x-ray artwork. CUSTOIMAGES Science Photo Library was founded in 1981 by Michael Marten who was one of the authors of Worlds Within Worlds, a book exploring different ways to observe the universe - from electron micrographs, to images of earthrise taken from the Apollo spacecraft. When Marten started receiving requests for the beautiful images in the book, he had an idea of setting up Science Photo Library. Marten says: "Worlds was the first popular book in Britain to show the new range of scientific imagery that had been developed since the 1950s, and it showed that science images could be exciting, colourful, even artistic: they didn't need to be boring and technical. At that time you couldn't get them from photo agencies, or indeed from any central source, you had to go to individual scientists and doctors who made the pictures." Over the past 25 years, SPL has built an unrivalled reputation in the field of technical photography and now includes a collection of images covering an extensive range of subjects from medical and health images to beauty shots, from flowers and animals to contemporary human lifestyle, all with comprehensive and clear captions. The SPL collection encompasses more than 250,000 breathtaking images, and is constantly evolving. Over 2000 images are added each month from a broad range of suppliers ranging from acclaimed photographers and illustrators to science and medical specialists. It has always been the aim of SPL to demonstrate what science does in an accessible way and to develop communications between scientists and the media. Marten says: "Scientific images weren't part of most people's visual vocabulary when SPL started. Nowadays they are used in ads, on newspaper front pages, in pop videos, almost everywhere." For more information, images or to arrange an interview please contact: Pirjo Savilahti, Marketing Executive Science Photo Library, 327-329 Harrow Road, London W9 3RB Tel: 020 7432 1100 Fax: 020 7286 8668 pirjo.savilahti@sciencephoto.com or Patricial Lotery/ Gill Gray Polo PR, 30 Shrewsbury Avenue, London SW14 8JZ Tel: 020 8876 4242 Fax: 020 8876 8900 e-mail: info@polopr.co.uk back to Press Releases