Was Leonardo Da Vinci the greatest scientist or artist of his time? Perhaps more well known for his artistic talents, his enigmatic painting of the Mona Lisa continues to puzzle generations of art enthusiasts many centuries later.
Now, thanks to a newly published study by PhD student Keith Carroll from Georgia Instiute of Technology, Da Vinci's artistic works can take a tiny place in the world of science. A very, very tiny place indeed....
The 'Mini Lisa' wins the record for the world's smallest replica of Da Vinci's famous painting. The technical terminology adds a layer of complexity that detracts from what simply is a work of art. Published in the journal Langmuir, "Fabricating nanoscale chemical gradients with thermochemical nanolithography" is a complex description of a technology that can perhaps be likened to the painting style pointillism. Whereas the latter refers to a painting created from tiny dots of individually applied paint, 'Mini Lisa's' 'paint' was applied using controlled chemical reactions to create varying shades of grey across 125 nanometer intervals.
The overall image stretches just 30 microns across---that's so small that it's probably not worth splitting hairs over. Let's just say that it's really rather small.
But perhaps in the science of art, size doesn't really matter all that much. In our new world of nanotechnology, perhaps sci-art is the genre of the future? I'm sure that Da Vinci, as an inventor and creator born before his time, would be more than a tiny bit pleased is he could see this painting.
[Image source: Georgia Tech Media Release]
Cool blog, bro
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