To celebrate National Chemistry Week, we are featuring beautiful images from the world of chemistry.

This image won scientist-photographer Stefan Eberhard Honorable Mention in the 2004 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition.

"This is a photomicrograph (a photograph that is taken through a microscope) of tiny crystals of palmitic acid, a common saturated fatty acid. Many white crystalline substances show up in fantastic colors when illuminated in polarized light, like this shot of palmitic acid.

Photomicrography is an activity where the disciplines of art and science can come together in a symbiotic relationship. I use science to help me create images to express myself artistically. For me, photomicrography of crystals is an outlet to create colorful, abstract images with an aesthetic value."

Stefan Eberhard
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA