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Creating the "Pillars": Multiple Meanings of a Hubble Image

Department of Science and Technology Studies, 311 Rockefeller Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853jmg48{at}cornell.edu

The "Pillars of Creation" is arguably the most famous image produced by the Hubble space telescope, and it has led a quite unexpected life. On one hand, by tracing the trajectory of the image from its genesis through the traditional media channels between science and the public, this paper is a straightforward case study in the black-boxing of a scientific image. However, by continuing the story and following the "Pillars" into the hands of a group of enthusiasts whose interpretations of it differ from those of the scientific community, we find that the power of black-boxed scientific rhetoric can be co-opted by those who would use it for their own purposes.

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 13, No. 1, 83-95 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0963662504042693


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