Nikon Presents 1999 Photomicrography Awards

Nikon Inc. of Melville, N.Y., has announced the winners of its 1999 International Small World Competition. Founded in 1975, this annual contest honors excellence in photomicrography. The photographs were judged on originality, informational content, technical proficiency and visual impact.

"Fossil cast of wood with replacement silicates," by Norm Barker of Baltimore, took 12th place in this year's contest. Courtesy of Nikon Inc.

Alexey Khodjakov, the first-place winner, captured the lung cell of a newt in mitosis, using five fluorescent dyes in a two-stage staining process. The second-place photo, taken by Lars Bech, is a 50x magnification under polarized light of Viagra in an ammonia solution. Daphne Zbaeren-Colbourn imaged a mangrove leaf with fluorescent light at 40x for the third-place prize.