Best Scientific Photos of the Year: winners of the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2019

The Royal Society has announced the winners of its Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2019. This competition celebrates the most outstanding photographs of scientific phenomena. See the pictures of the winners in our material.

The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition) has been held since 2015. The photos submitted to the contest reflect science in many of its manifestations. These images truly make science accessible to a wide audience.

The absolute winner of the competition from the leading scientific society of the UK was the work of Alex Labuda — "Quantum drops". The image shows three constantly bouncing drops of silicone oil, whose behavior illustrates a key theory of quantum physics. Although the droplets move like quantum particles, they behave like quantum waves.

The organizers of the contest explained that this photo performs a scientific function best of all — it confuses the viewer with its unusual appearance and encourages them to figure out what the essence of the picture is.

The picture of the "Taranaki Star" is taken by a photographer from Ireland, James Orr, who took 2nd place at the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition

The picture of the "Fade to white" photographer from Morgan Bennett-Smith of Saudi Arabia, winner of the Ecology category

Halo around the moon over a forest lake. The author of the photo, Mikhail Kapychka from Belarus, who celebrated the victory in the nomination "Astronomy"

A wasp seen by Abhijit Bayani in southern India. The picture took the second place in the nomination "Ecology"

Tom Schlesinger's "Effervescent Sea" was awarded second place in the category "Earth Sciences and Climatology"

In the category "Behavior", Daniel Field won, who filmed muddy fish jumpers, which are able to move on land with the help of fins

The incentive prize in the category "Microimages" was awarded to a picture of Ann Weston. The picture shows a thread under a magnifying glass, with which surgeons apply stitches to wounds

"Tornado in Yukon" photo by Lauren Marchant, who won in the category "Earth Sciences and Climatology"

Eduardo Sampaio's "Medusa" got the second place in the category "Behavior"

Another work by Alex Labuda, which was awarded second place in the category "Microimages"