Exploring the Invisible – Simon Park (1964-2021)
Interalia pays tribute to Dr Simon Park (1964-2021), the passionate naturalist whose work revealed the wonders of the microbial world and whose approach challenged easy disciplinary definitions. Through microphotography, videography and writing Simon opened up invisible worlds to others and provided a space for learning, for wonder and for speculation.
EXPLORING THE INVISIBLE
Simon Park (1964-2021)
These, Nature’s works, the curious mind employ,
Inspire a soothing melancholy joy:
As fancy warms, a pleasing kind of pain
Steals o’er the cheek, and thrills the creeping vein!
Each rural sight, each sound, each smell, combine;
The tinkling sheep-bell, or the breath of kine;
The new-mown hay that scents the swelling breeze,
Or cottage-chimney smoking through the trees.
The chilling night-dews fall: away, retire;
For see, the glow-worm lights her amorous fire!
The Naturalist’s Summer-Evening Walk
by Gilbert White
Interalia pays tribute to Dr Simon Park (1964-2021), the passionate naturalist whose work revealed the wonders of the microbial world and whose approach challenged easy disciplinary definitions.
Through microphotography, videography and writing Simon opened up invisible worlds to others and provided a space for learning, for wonder and for speculation. His tone was equally pedagogic and poetic and his experimental practice has engaged and inspired countless people directly (through exhibitions and public engagement activity) and indirectly (through his prolific online activity).
In 2017, Simon reflected on his ‘Creative collaborations with invisible life’, citing that H.G Wells’ The War of the Worlds had been a major inspiration when a teenager. The novel draws comparison between the observation of human activity and that of minute pond life down a microscope:
“that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.”
This shifting focus between species and scales set a path into a life-long study of the natural and microbial world.
Figures 1A-C : Cryptoglyphs. Tracks made by minute soil creatures called cryptozoa revealed by the growth of bioluminescent bacteria. The tracks after 1 day incubation (A) and then after 4 days (B,C).
Educated in microbiology at the Universities of Leeds and Nottingham Simon gained recognition early on in his career, winning the Young Scientist of the Year Award in 1992.
An internationally recognised molecular microbiologist, he published two textbooks and over 60 research papers in refereed journals, books and other periodicals, also serving on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Microbiology. As Senior Teaching Fellow in Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the University of Surrey, Simon was an enthusiastic and engaging teacher, introducing generations of young biologists to the hidden complexities of living systems. He was a popular teacher and colleague alike, the latter making tribute to a “wonderfully kind, witty, and intelligent” man.
Simon was a true empiricist, observing the structures, patterns and behaviours of worlds beyond human vision. He noticed the interactions of species at macro scale in algae, lichen and ants, and spent hours working on the microscope, wondering at the miniscule marvels he found in soil, bacteria, human flora, and pond water.
Generous with his findings, he published his experiments on a blog ‘Exploring the Invisible” where he described the content as “Works from a Liberal Scientist/Artist that reveal the hidden machinations of the natural world”. For over 10 years, regular posts reached a global audience, documenting his observations from the field and the laboratory, particularly those revealed through microscopy.
Simon Park: The microbiomal paintings. Bacteria from my own microbiome (mouth and gut), interact with red, blue and green water colours to generate a unique type of self-portrait.
He was particularly keen to make visible the machinations beyond our perceptual grasp, for example exposing the patterns made by ants at night (by laying down fluorescent particles for them to pick up on their feet and leave a glowing trail behind them), capturing the twirling patterns of soil microbes taken out of their original context and placed in a petri dish, and pointing out the interactions of microbial communities in our urban environment, on paving stones and drains. He developed a process of ‘microgeography’, combining the practice of psychogeography (mapping the city through walking and exploring) with intimate microbiological observation, where ‘the observer is invited to question the influence of human activity upon this urban microbiological landscape, and hopefully through this, to extrapolate the impact of our actions on to the more visible world beyond.’
DIC microscopy and algorithmic photography reveal the activity of the usually invisible microbiological community that supports all life above and beneath the pond’s surface.
Simon often acted as nature’s spokesperson or mediator, using imaging technologies to platform the voices of the non-human. He created the conditions for organisms to demonstrate inherent behaviours and properties and then, using his beloved Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscope for example, revealed their intricate actions and interactions. Algorithmic photography enabled him to compress time, by compositing multiple moments into one single frame.
Simon was inventive and exploratory, always looking to learn from that which he observed and to share that learning with others. This desire to communicate and his generous character led him to seek creative outlets outside of strictly scientific disciplines. His contribution to the field of art and science cannot be underestimated and his position as a poetic scientist (or scientific poet) called into question firm disciplinary definitions. His work has informed, inspired and influenced a generation of artists and scientists alike, directly and indirectly through his online activity and generous sharing of content, conversation and advice. This collaborative interdisciplinary approach allowed him to seek new hybrid forms, to bring different knowledges together and find intriguing ways to express natural phenomena. These included painting with pigmented bacteria, a series of photographic portraits lit by bioluminescent bacteria, microbiological analysis of an historic text and live bacterial sculptures. In addition to the collaborative projects, Simon hosted many artists in his lab, offered them advice, granted access to his microscope and shared live cultures and samples.
In his own right and in collaboration with numerous artists, Simon’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Royal institution, Eden Project, Wellcome Collection, Edinburgh International Science Festival and the Science Museum. Internationally his works have been included in international group shows on BioArt, including Cut, Paste, Grow in New York. In 2015 the Microbiology Society awarded Simon the Peter Wildy Prize in recognition for his extensive and imaginative work in the area of scientific communication, operating outside of the boundaries of specialist scientific research. He engaged countless people through his various public exhibitions, participatory events, walks and talks.
A true naturalist, Simon was forever curious about the minutiae of the natural world. Wherever he travelled – in the UK or abroad – he noticed and made known microbial life. He took others with him on that journey, literally and metaphorically. Family holidays ventured to far flung corners of the globe in search of encounters with natural phenomena – places visited include the Galapagos, Borneo, Namibia and Iceland as well as exploring natural habitats closer to home. His curious mind gave access to an incredible world for his family.
Simon was a humble and incredibly modest man, who shied away from the limelight. His passions extended beyond the microbial world – he was equally passionate about beer, cricket and music. He was a warm, intelligent and witty man who will be sorely missed by many.
Simon is survived by his wife, Diane and his two sons, Joseph and Joshua.
Tributes to Simon can be made through donations to the RSPB.
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LINKS to other obits and info
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/obituary-dr-simon-park-1964-2021
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/simon-park
https://exploringtheinvisible.com/
http://www.microbialart.com/galleries/simon-park/
https://microbiologysociety.org/news/society-news/a-tribute-to-simon-park.html
https://microbiologysociety.org/news/society-news/simon-park-wins-the-2015-peter-wildy-prize.html
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Tribute written by Heather Barnett, Richard Bright and Sarah Craske
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