Lennart Nilsson was a Swedish photographer who revolutionized medical photography with his groundbreaking work in documenting the development of human life. His pioneering images of the human fetus brought the marvels of biology to the public eye. Nilsson's legacy reminds us of the power of visual storytelling to educate, inspire, and change perceptions. His work continues to encourage creativity and precision in the fields of science, photography, and art.
"I have the instruments, ideas, technology, computer techniques. We try to create or see something, which has not been known before - just to discover something together. This is always my dream."
"You know, of course, the specimens are not alive. We have to fix them in a fixing liquid formaldehyde and then we have to do a rinsing and then we have to coat them in a thin layer of gold."
"We sometimes freeze the specimen with liquid nitrogen, which is extremely cold, you know. This is another technique we use now - but the specimens are not alive."
"And I remember that the editors wanted to have a witness to say that this was really the case, because it was a very sharp picture of the just the face, the head of the fetus inside the womb."
"I have many times thought I did the wrong thing, but the reason was not to be a medical doctor - it was just to have the information. But then, maybe I was wrong, I don't know."
"That's the new way - with computers, computers, computers. That's the way we can have the cell survive and get some new information in high resolution. We started about five years ago and, today, I think we have reached the target."
"For the animals, they came from the University in Uppsala and all different kinds of clinics here."
"Of course, today at the Karolinska Institute, I am working with some top experts - even some Nobel prize winners. They have the latest news and I have the technique."
"I have some friends, colleagues here at the Karolinska Institute and even in the United States and many other countries too, because we are working together as scientists."
"There is a new way with very very tiny fiber optics, which give an enormous high resolution. There are many many thousand fibers, very very close together with a very small diameter."