Fascination of Science

An intimate collection of portraits of internationally renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners, paired with interviews and personal stories.

What makes a brilliant scientist? Who are the people behind the greatest discoveries of our time? Connecting art and science, photographer Herlinde Koelbl seeks the answers in this English translation of the German book Fascination of Science, an indelible collection of portraits of and interviews with sixty pioneering scientists of the twenty-first century. Koelbl’s approach is intimate and accessible, and her highly personal interviews with her subjects reveal the forces (as well as the personal quirks) that motivate the scientists’ work; for example, one wakes up at 3 am because her mind is calm then, another says his best ideas come to him in the shower. These glimpses into the scientists’ lives and thinking add untold texture in this up-to-the-minute survey of the activities and progress that are currently taking place in the broad field of the natural sciences.

Koelbl’s interview subjects include Nobel Prize winners Dan Shechtman, Frances Arnold, Carolyn Bertozzi, and cover scientific fields from astronomy, biochemistry, and quantum physics to stem-cell research and AI. Beautifully bringing together art, science, and the written word, Fascination of Science is an inspiring read that shows how creativity, obsession, persistence, and passion drive the pioneering researchers of our time.8 Foreword by Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
9 Preface by Herlinde Koelbl 
Interviews
10 Karl Deisseroth
16 Peter Seeberger
24 Stefan Hell
30 Antje Boetius
36 Thomas Sudhof
42 David Avnir
48 Alessio Figalli
54 Jennifer Doudna
60 Tom Rapoport
66 Tandong Yao
70 Robert Laughlin
76 Bruce Alberts 
82 Viola Vogel
88 Pascale Cossart
94 Brian Schmidt
100 Avi Loeb
106 Wolfgang Ketterle
112 Ron Naaman
118 Faith Osier
126 Helmut Schwarz
132 Bernhard Scholkopf
138 Martin Rees
144 Richard Timothy Hunt
150 Carla Shatz
156 Patrick Cramer
162 Dan Shechtman
168 Aaron Ciechanover
174 Jian-Wei Pan
180 Detlef Gunther
186 George M. Church
192 Frances Arnold
198 Robert weinberg
204 Peter Doherty
210 Francoise Barre-Sinoussi
216 Klaus von Klitzing
222 Shigefumi Mori
228 Cedric Villani
234 Christiane Nusslein-Volhard
240 Marcelle Soares-Santos
246 Tao Zhang
250 Paul Nurse
256 Ruth Arnon
262 Vittorio Gunturkun
274 Carolyn Bertozzi
280 Ulyana Shimanovich
286 Richard Zare
292 Ottmar Edenhofer
298 Bruno Reichart
304 Shuji Nakamura
310 Eric Kandel
318 Sallie Chisholm
324 Tolullah Oni
330 Robert Langer
336 Anton Zeilinger
342 Arieh Warshel
348 Edward Boyden
354 Sangheeta Bhatia
360 Emmanuelle Charpentier
368 Hermann Parzinger
372 Maria Schuld
374 Katharine L. Bouman
376 Moises Exposito-Alonso
378 Elaine Y. Hsiao
380 Contributors 
384 Afterword by Dr. Roland Busch
385 AcknowledgmentsIncluded in The Next Big Idea Club’s August 2023 Must-Read Books list“True to its title, this is a fascinating collection of interviews. Herlinde Koelbl’s insightful questions and the candid responses of her subjects offer a matchless window into the personal histories and thinking of some of the world’s most successful scientists.”
—John P. Holdren, Research Professor, Harvard University; President Obama’s Science Advisor, January 2009 to January 2017Herlinde Koelbl is a German photographic artist, author, and documentary filmmaker. She has published more than a dozen photography books, including Jewish Portraits, Targets, and Angela Merkel Portraits 1991–2021. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize in 2001. You can learn more about her at www.herlindekoelbl.com.