Gary Greenberg is a photographer, biomedical researcher and inventor intent on giving us all a view of the microscopic wonders all around us.

Why you should listen

A photographer and filmmaker with a Ph.D. in biomedical research, Gary Greenberg creates new ways to capture the spectacular landscapes that are hidden from everyday perception inside grains of sand, human cells and flower petals. Using high-definition, three-dimensional light microscopes -- for which he holds 18 patents -- Greenberg makes the miracles of nature tangible, exposing their hidden details. Most recently, Greenberg turned his attention to sand grains, photographing samples from around the world for the book, A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder. For it, Greenberg even photographed moon sand returned from NASA’s Apollo 11 Mission.

Greenberg has also taught at the University of Southern California and has been a featured artist at the Science Museum of Minnesota. 

What others say

“Gary Greenberg takes us to exotic locales in our larger world to explore extraordinary beauty witnessed on a microphotographic scale.” — Scientific American

Gary Greenberg’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Gary Greenberg

Science

New playlist: The world of tiny things

June 9, 2013

There’s a time and a place for the big picture; there’s a time and a place for the tiny one. This week, watch the playlist “The world of tiny things,” all about viewing the unseen and looking at the world on a very small scale. In this playlist, E.O. Wilson makes a plea for insects […]

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