2024 - Vol 8 - Num 1

Arts et sciences

www.openscience.fr/Arts-et-sciences

La revue Arts et sciences présente les travaux, réalisations, réflexions, techniques et prospectives qui concernent

toute activité créatrice en rapport avec les arts et les sciences. La peinture, la poésie, la musique, la littérature, la

fiction, le cinéma, la photo, la vidéo, le graphisme, l’archéologie, l’architecture, le design, la muséologie etc. sont

invités à prendre part à la revue ainsi que tous les champs d’investigation au carrefour de plusieurs disciplines telles

que la chimie des pigments, les mathématiques, l’informatique ou la musique pour ne citer que ces exemples.

Rédactrice en chef

Marie-Christine MAUREL

Sorbonne Université, MNHN, Paris

marie-christine.maurel@sorbonne-universite.fr

Membres du comité

Jean AUDOUZE

Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris

audouze@iap.fr

Georges Chapouthier

Sorbonne Université

georgeschapouthier@gmail.com

Ernesto Di Mauro

Università Sapienza, Italie

dimauroernesto8@gmail.com

Jean-Charles HAMEAU

Cité de la Céramique Sèvres et

Limoges jean-charles.hameau

@sevresciteceramique.fr

Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau

Chapman University, États-Unis

magrinchagnolleau@chapman.edu

Joëlle PIJAUDIER-CABOT

Musées de Strasbourg

joelle.pijaudier@wanadoo.fr

Bruno SALGUES

APIEMO et SIANA

bruno.salgues@gmail.com

Ruth SCHEPS

The Weizmann Insitute

of Science, Israël

rscheps@hotmail.com

Hugues VINET

IRCAM, Paris

hugues.vinet@ircam.fr

Philippe WALTER

Laboratoire d’archéologie

moléculaire et structurale

Sorbonne Université Paris

philippe.walter@upmc.fr

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Arts et Sciences, une longue alliance source de

réciprocité créatrice

Marie-Christine Maurel

Depuis l'Antiquité, Arts et Sciences sont congénialement liés. Aristote, déclarait l’art comme

esthétique dont : “Les formes les plus hautes du beau sont l'ordre, la symétrie, le défini, et c'est

là surtout ce que font apparaître les sciences mathématiques. » (Métaphysique, 1078b).

A la Renaissance, le lien épistémique de tout art se renforce encore, avec des figures telles

que Piero della Francesca, grand scientifique, mathématicien éminent, et artiste exceptionnel.

Pensons aussi au Perugino, à son penchant naturaliste et à son élève le génial Raphael. Les arts

visuels ont ainsi particulièrement servi de "passerelles" entre les différentes formes artistiques

et les disciplines scientifiques. Léonard de Vinci polymathe incarne parfaitement cet

universalisme en tant que peintre, sculpteur, mathématicien et poète. Bernard Palissy,

céramiste, sculpteur et savant, a tenté de fusionner l’art et les sciences de la nature à travers ses

représentations de « natures mortes », still life. Diderot a plus tard affirmé dans l’Encyclopédie,

combien l'histoire de la nature est incomplète sans celle des arts. Les exemples sont

nombreux… Malgré une certaine distanciation entre arts et sciences au XXe siècle, en partie

due à la ferveur industrielle, cette séparation s'estompe progressivement aujourd’hui, en

particulier avec l'émergence des arts numériques mais aussi par des lectures qui re-pensent la

modernité de textes dits « classiques ».

Il est essentiel de comprendre comment un scientifique peut aider un artiste, mais aussi

comment un artiste peut apporter sa contribution à un scientifique. Les méthodes, l'imagination

et l'invention sont au cœur des processus scientifiques et artistiques. Cette convergence est

évidente dans la création et dans la scénographie théâtrale, rappelant par exemple le visuel des

mises en scène extraordinaires de Jérôme Bosch, véritable retour à un paradis perdu ou à un

enfer selon les perspectives.

Au-delà des sujets abordés, la créativité commune entre l'art et la science est le fil

conducteur. Les écrits de Diderot Le Rêve de d’Alembert et La Lettre sur les Aveugles à l’usage

de ceux qui voient, les œuvres de Molière traitant de considérations politico-religieuses (voir le

Tartuffe ou l’imposteur) annonciateur de l’imposture créationniste, sont autant d'exemples de

l’actualité et de la convergence entre arts et sciences.

Enfin rappelons que pour Einstein la véritable source de tout art et science réside dans le

mystère et dans l’engagement commun envers l'inconnu : « La plus belle chose dont nous

puissions faire l’expérience est le mystère – la source de tout vrai art, de toute vraie science ».

Aristote Métaphysique, traduction (éd. de 1953) de J. Tricot (1893-1963) Éditions Les Échos du Maquis (ePub, PDF), v.:

1,0, janvier 2014

Diderot Denis. 1769. Le rêve de D’Alembert. GF – Philosophie. Poche, 2002.

Diderot Denis. 1749. Lettre sur les aveugles à l’usage de ceux qui voient. Folio-Poche.

Molière. Le Tartuffe ou l’Imposteur. 1669. Librio-Poche.

Einstein, Albert. Textes écrits entre 1930-1935. Comment je vois le monde. Flammarion-Champs Sciences

© 2024 ISTE OpenScience – Published by ISTE Ltd. London, UK – openscience.fr

Raphael ou l’innovation artistique et scientifique dans : L’Ecole d’Athènes (1509-1511).

Fresque 550x770 cm(18x25ft) Salles Raphael, Musée-Cité du Vatican.

Les personnages représentés ont été identifiés comme suit : Au centre, Platon tenant le

Timée pointe le ciel, illustrant sa théorie des formes idéales et immuables qui existent au-delà

du monde physique. La connaissance, la transcendance va de la réalité à la vérité. A ses

côtés, Aristote, qui tient l’Ethique à Nicomaque, étend sa main vers le sol, symbolisant

l’immanence, la réalité concrète et les phénomènes naturels. La vérité ne peut résider qu’icibas,

dans la réalité.

Le visage de Platon est représenté par Raphael sous les traits de Léonard de Vinci.

A gauche au 1er plan et au bas de la fresque Pythagore et le groupe des géomètres.

Hypathie (philosophe, mathématicienne et astronome d’Alexandrie en Égypte

du IVe au Ve siècle), vêtue de blanc au centre est à proximité de Pythagore.

À l’opposé du côté d’Aristote, la géométrie représentée par la figure d'Euclide et son compas

est entouré d'étudiants. On reconnaît également l'architecte Bramante.

Au-dessus d’Euclide, les astronomes Ptolémée, et Zoroastre soutiennent chacun une

sphère céleste en hommage à leurs contributions en astronomie.


Arts et sciences

2024 - Volume 8

Numéro 1

‣ Genius loci : creuser pour révéler ? Art et Archéologie, l’exemple de Terra Amata..........................1

Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac, Bertrand Roussel

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1066

‣ The Querulous Hermann Fol (1845-1892): His Scientific Work, Art, and Inventions .........................13

John R. Dolan

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1162

‣ Alien Archaeology in science fiction cinema ......................................................................................31

Olivier Planchon, Christophe Thomazo, Pierre Pouzet, Cécile Allinne

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1180

‣ ScienceArt Commune 1: Whirling with Waters ..................................................................................53

Joseph Tin Yum Wong

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1200


Genius loci : creuser pour révéler ?

Art et Archéologie, l’exemple de Terra Amata

Genius loci : digging to reveal ?

Art and Archaeology, the example of Terra Amata

Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac 1 , Bertrand Roussel 2

1

artiste

2

Préhistorien, Directeur des Musées d’Archéologie de Nice

RÉSUMÉ. La pratique de l’archéologue et celle de l’artiste, au moment d’investir un site, sont-elles si éloignées ? Pour

aborder un espace, il convient de prendre la mesure de l’existant. Si cet existant constitue un indice pour

l’archéologue, comment est-il perçu par l’artiste qui tente de l’appréhender ? La plasticienne Charlotte Pringuey-

Cessac et le préhistorien Bertrand Roussel évoquent leur approche respective du site de Terra Amata, dans le cadre

d’une exposition qu’ils ont présentée du 6 décembre 2019 au 17 mai 2020, intitulée Bruit originaire.

ABSTRACT. Is the approach of the scientist, in this case, the archaeologist, and that of the artist when they discover a

prehistoric site, truly so distant? To comprehend a space, it is necessary to gauge what already exists. If this element

serves as a clue for the archaeologist, how is it perceived by the artist attempting to understand it? Visual artist

Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac and prehistorian Bertrand Roussel discuss their respective approaches to the Terra Amata

site, within the framework of an exhibition they presented from December 6, 2019, to May 17, 2020, titled "Bruit

originaire" (Original Noise). Even if the origin of humanity is probably forever concealed from us, it does not prevent us

from wanting to approach it. It seems that there is a similar and shared intention between the artist's practice and that

of the prehistorian. Whether in the artist's intention or the archaeologist's, the idea of promise persists in the very

practice of each.

MOTS-CLÉS. expressions humaines, dessin, Préhistoire, feu, charbon, empreinte, ocres, goethite, hématite.

KEYWORDS. human expressions, drawing, Prehistory, fire, charcoal, imprint, ochres, goethite, hematite.

Mise en perspective historique moderne et contemporaine

À la fin du XIX e et début XX e siècle, le développement de la photographie dans le domaine de

l’art libère les pratiques créatrices liées jusqu’alors à la représentation du réel par le dessin, la

peinture ou encore la sculpture. Les problématiques artistiques se détournent de cette représentation

illusoire pour se consacrer entièrement au médium en tant que tel. Les outils de l’artiste (la ligne, la

couleur, la forme, etc.) mais également le langage deviennent l’objet de son attention et de ses

réflexions. Un immense champ d’investigation s’ouvre à l’artiste pour expérimenter. C’est alors que

le « protocole » fait son apparition avec Marcel Duchamp et la pièce 3 stoppages-étalon de 1913

(fig. 1). L’artiste lâche une cordelette d’une longueur d’un mètre sur le sol et il répète cette

expérience trois fois. Les dessins obtenus par la chute constitueront l’œuvre finale. Les artistes

utilisent peu à peu le protocole comme mode opératoire dans leur pratique. L’espace d’une feuille de

papier blanc est dissociée de tout contexte. Il n’est pas question de genius loci sur sa surface.

L’artiste donne les règles du jeu et il les applique sur une feuille ou un tableau. Ces règles lui

appartiennent, il est libre de les modifier comme bon lui semble. Évoquons, entre autres, quelquesuns

de ces artistes du protocole : Sol Lewitt, Roman Opalka (fig. 2), On Kawara.

En parallèle à cette pratique protocolaire, dès la fin des années 1960, d’autres artistes appartenant

aux mouvements du land art et / ou Earthwork 1 ont voulu ouvrir le champ des possibles en dehors

de l’atelier, pour expérimenter et créer directement sur site. Nous pouvons citer entre autres Dennis

1 https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/149 (consulté le 27/08/2020)

© 2024 ISTE OpenScience – Published by ISTE Ltd. London, UK – openscience.fr Page | 1

Oppenheim ou Walter de Maria (fig. 3). Il ne s’agit donc pas de représenter la perspective ou le

paysage sur une surface plane mais bien de les appréhender, comme matière première, sans les

dissocier de leur environnement et de leur contexte (Domino, 1999). L’espace paysager est un

palimpseste, une surface sensible à toutes sortes de sensations éprouvées, d’expériences à vivre.

Dans les années 1970, un nouvel art est né, celui de l’art contextuel, défini par Paul Ardenne comme

suit : « l'art contextuel consiste à agir au cœur d’un univers concret, en situation d'intervention, de

participation. Cette tendance tend à remettre en cause les notions mêmes d'œuvre, de spectateur, de

marché de l'art. L'œuvre n'a ici de sens qu'au moment et à l'endroit où elle est installée et tente

d'opérer » (Ardenne, 2002), souvent en dehors de toute institution. Cette pratique n’a cessé de se

développer. C’est dans cette histoire-là que nous tenterons d’inscrire une réflexion sensible liée à

l’espace investi et, en particulier, au site de Terra Amata.

Fig. 1. Stoppages-étalon, Marcel Ducham, 1913

Fig. 2. Autoportraits photographiques, Roman

Opalka, de 1965 à 2011

Fig. 3. The Lightning Field, Walter de Maria, 1971-1977

Terra Amata, un site qui n’existe plus

La prise en compte de l’existant, du site et de son environnement, est fondamentale pour toute

communication figurée in-situ. Or, le site de Terra Amata (Nice) est un cas bien particulier car il

n’existe plus. Après cinq mois et demi de fouilles à peine, Terra Amata sera enseveli sous le béton.

Et son genius loci avec par la même occasion. Alors quel contexte avons-nous aujourd’hui pour

aborder ce site qui n’est plus ? Que nous reste-t-il du site de Terra Amata qui pourrait nous faire

voyager jusqu’à nous ramener dans l’environnement des premiers niçois ? Et comment investit-on

un territoire disparu ?


Fig. 4. Le site de Terra Amata, lors de la fouille, en 1966

Terra Amata, un site patrimonial détruit, c’est l’ironie du sort de la pratique archéologique ellemême.

Également, cette destruction est due au contexte des fouilles qui est loin d’être une exception

pour le quotidien de l’archéologue. En effet, le site a été mis en évidence lors de la construction d’un

immeuble de luxe, le « Palais Carnot », en 1966. Le Professeur Henry de Lumley a été rapidement

prévenu de la découverte de restes osseux et d’outils archaïques sur le chantier. Il a pu négocier avec

les promoteurs, pour organiser des fouilles de sauvetage car, à cette époque, aucune loi n’encadrait

la protection des vestiges archéologiques (Lumley et al., 2009). Cependant, ces fouilles ont entraîné

la disparition du site archéologique lui-même. En effet, la pratique de la fouille est destructive. On

ne peut pas fouiller un même site deux fois… Ce qui n’est pas observé, et/ou ce qui n’est pas

enregistré, est définitivement perdu. L’archéologue est le propre destructeur de son sujet d’étude. De

nombreuses méthodologies sont donc élaborées et mises en œuvre pour tenter de limiter au

maximum la perte d’information.


Fig. 5. Le site de Terra Amata en 1966 à gauche et en 1996 à droite. Le musée de Terra Amata est

construit au pieds du « Palais Carnot », de nos jours

En hommage à cette découverte exceptionnelle, un musée est inauguré le 17 septembre 1976, au

pieds du « Palais Carnot ». C’est le premier musée de site, consacré à la Préhistoire, ouvert en

France. A portée scientifique, cette institution propose au visiteur de découvrir le mode de vie de

l’homme de Terra Amata, il y a 400 000 ans. Ce musée, en tant qu’espace scientifique et

scénographique, conserve une collection exceptionnelle des éléments mis au jour. Les vestiges et les

prélèvements issus de la fouille de Terra Amata ont fait l'objet de très nombreuses publications et

travaux de recherche universitaires pendant près de 40 ans. Un ambitieux programme est lancé,

entre 2005 et 2016, afin d’achever la publication scientifique complète du gisement. Ces travaux

interdisciplinaires fédèrent, sous la direction du Professeur Henry de Lumley, des chercheurs de

différents laboratoires pour rédiger les cinq tomes de la monographie du site. C’est l’ensemble de

ces données, patiemment collectées et étudiées par les archéologues, qui nourrissent l’espace

muséal, requalifié en 2016 à la faveur de l’anniversaire des cinquante ans des fouilles conduites du

28 janvier au 5 juillet 1966. L’esprit du lieu de Terra Amata a disparu mais subsistent les restes qui

constituent les collections. Il s’agit de l’ensemble des vestiges archéologiques découverts : les

industries lithiques (outils de pierres taillées), la faune (ensemble des restes, en particulier osseux,

des animaux) et des prélèvements, de toutes sortes, collectés lors des fouilles. Parmi les pièces

maîtresses, un moulage d’un des sols archéologiques trône au centre de l’espace muséal, telle une

sorte d’apparition fantomatique.

C’est dans ce contexte muséal des années 70 donc et non plus sur un site naturel qu’il faudra

intervenir. Ce qui change sacrément la donne ! Une intervention artistique dans le musée de Terra

Amata ne peut être qu’un défi des plus compliqués, ce qui le rend d’autant plus intéressant. Nous ne

pouvons pas faire contre, nous sommes bien obligés de faire avec et le plus sobrement possible. Il

s’agira donc de penser « économie de geste et économie de moyen ». Le geste artistique in-situ

devra être simple, cohérent, en accord avec le site et s’inscrire de telle manière qu’il soit visible tout

en préservant l’existant et intelligible par le visiteur-spectateur quand il s’attend à découvrir un


musée scientifique. Ce qui peut être mal perçu car inhabituel et déroutant pour le visiteur peu enclin

à la dimension poétique de l’art contemporain.

De l’art de la méthode

La pratique même de l’archéologie suscite un vif intérêt. L’acte archéologique représente un acte

« magique » pour tout enfant qui sommeille en nous. Fouiller. Déterrer. Sortir de l’ombre. Révéler.

Dévoiler. Mettre au jour. À la vue de tous. Un fragment encore muet est là, tapi, bien caché, loin de

notre regard et attend tranquillement son moment de gloire. Le fragment s’avérera un véritable

trésor pour l’archéologue comme pour l’artiste. Pour cela, quelles méthodes seront employées ?

Quels échos persisteront dans les propositions artistiques ? Quels éléments de la collection y seront

mis en évidence ?

Toutes les méthodes d’enregistrement utilisées par les archéologues sont une base de données

importantes. En effet, l’artiste peut les exploiter dans son travail de recherche avant toute

intervention artistique dans l’espace. Selon le contexte, le type de site et la problématique,

différentes stratégies sont mises en œuvre par les chercheurs. Leur point commun est

l’enregistrement des données qui peut se faire grâce à des dessins, des fiches stratigraphiques, des

photographies, des relevés photogrammétriques, etc. Une technique précise est toujours employée

afin de tirer toutes les informations possibles des sols et structures fouillés. Une attention toute

particulière est portée à la localisation exacte des objets découverts, à l'étude de la succession des

différentes couches de terrain déblayées afin de pouvoir procéder à une étude stratigraphique des

différents niveaux mis au jour. À Terra Amata, un travail considérable est réalisé par une équipe

constituée de chercheurs et de chercheuses, issus de la France entière et de l’étranger : près de 210

m 3 de terre remués au pinceau et à l’outil de dentiste, 26 niveaux d'habitat dégagés, plus de 28 000

objets coordonnés dans l’espace en x, y et z, 90 m 2 de sols archéologiques moulés, 9 000

photographies prises et 1 200 m² de coupes stratigraphiques levées. L’utilisation du carroyage, de la

fouille dite « planimétrique » et du moulage de sols archéologiques étaient, à l’époque, des

méthodes d’enregistrement extrêmement novatrices.

Fig. 6. Vue du moulage DM qui trône au centre du Musée de Préhistoire de Terra Amata


Le moulage est une pratique largement développée et exploitée en archéologie autant pour

l’enregistrement que pour la monstration au public. Cette méthode d’archivage par empreinte est la

pratique nodale des propositions artistiques conçues pour le musée de Terra Amata. C’est donc à

partir des moules, des tirages et d’originaux que sera développé un travail d’empreintes réalisé dans

différents matériaux. Il sera possible d’utiliser des moules préservés mais également de réaliser un

certain nombre de matrices en plâtre à partir des outils de pierre taillée issus de la fouille. Une partie

du travail en atelier consistera à réaliser des empreintes d’empreintes, une mise en abyme de cette

méthode de reproduction en somme. Très loin de la démarche de reproduction à but commercial, il

s’agit de saisir la pratique de l’empreinte dans son essence. L’empreinte comme geste, comme

technique, comme matrice, l’empreinte comme pouvoir (Didi Huberman, 2008). Comme l’écrit

Georges Didi Huberman, « la première exigence d’une pensée de l’empreinte [est de l’aborder d’]

un point de vue anachronique. » (Didi Huberman, 2008 : 12) L’empreinte d’une forme contient en

puissance tous les gestes qui ont façonné ladite forme moulée. Pour exemple, une matière comme la

porcelaine de coulage a la capacité de prendre l’empreinte du moule comme de la recevoir et a la

capacité de déformation comme d’information. L’empreinte permet de penser la sensation comme

transmission sans pour autant la matérialiser. Il y a, ici, la persistance d’une mémoire sous-jacente

du faire, du créer, du s’exprimer. Cette présence fantôme d’un acte ainsi que son sens est toujours

aussi vive et sensible malgré une échelle temporelle éloignée. Elle révèle un instant terminé bien

qu’encore perceptible.

Fig. 7. Schéma scientifique de la glissade d’un

pied empreint dans le sol de Terra Amata

Fig. 8. Empreintes de main saisissant de la matière –

détail de l’installation Infra

Quatre éléments fondamentaux vont nourrir les différentes propositions d’intervention dans le

musée :

- La pratique archéologique ;

- Le foyer/ le charbon de bois ;

- Les outils de pierre et les vénus (issues de moules extérieurs au site de Terra Amata mais

présentes dans les réserves du musée) ;

- Les « crayons » d’ocres.


Tous ces vestiges mettent en lumière la notion si merveilleusement abstraite de l’origine. Cette

idée des débuts de l’Humanité semble tellement fascinante parce que définitivement inaccessible,

inconnue bien que réelle. Le site de Terra Amata a livré parmi les plus anciens foyers aménagés de

l’histoire de l’Humanité (Lumley et al, 2016a). A ce titre, il témoigne de l’origine de la

domestication du feu. Des fragments d’ocre ont également été mis au jour (Lumley et al, 2016b).

Ces derniers pourraient être le témoignage, selon Henry de Lumley, des premières expressions

symboliques humaines. Ces vestiges donnent matière à rêver…

Montrer ou découvrir ?

Tout d'abord l'archéologue découvre, il ôte la terre qui cache des vestiges. Après être observés,

inventoriés, puis analysés, ces vestiges, pour les plus emblématiques d'entre eux, sont montrés au

public qui va les découvrir à son tour. Cette boucle est infinie car ces mêmes vestiges pourront être

redécouverts des décennies après leur mise au jour grâce à de nouvelles manières de les analyser. La

monstration, du côté scientifique, s’opère par des publications dans des revues spécialisées, des

livres, des monographies et, du côté du grand public, par la réalisation de musées, d’expositions, de

conférences, de médiations, d’ateliers, d’ouvrages de vulgarisation, de sites internet, réseaux

sociaux, etc. Tout est exploitable pour la diffusion et la transmission des découvertes archéologiques

à un large auditoire. Quel regard l'artiste va-t-il poser sur ces vestiges ? Pour quelles propositions ?

Pour poser et répondre à quelles questions ?

L’intention de l’exposition est le point de départ de toute intervention artistique dans un espace

muséal. Un musée scientifique, comme celui de Terra Amata, cible précisément l’histoire et les

teneurs dudit site. Quant à l’artiste, il perçoit le vestige au-delà de l’objet d’intérêt scientifique. Il

tente, par son approche sensible, de lui faire faire un pas de côté, de le montrer autrement, pour

amener le spectateur à se questionner. L’intérêt de toute réalisation artistique est de poser des

questions, de remettre en cause une image conventionnelle, pour révéler une nouvelle manière de

percevoir une réalité. Les différentes propositions artistiques pour le musée de Terra Amata

comportent chacune une ou plusieurs intentions, toujours en regard des collections du site

préhistorique et de la pratique archéologique.


Fig. 9. Origine, installation in-situ en béton noir,

dimensions variables, 2019. Moulages de vénus et

d’outils lithiques issus des réserves du musée

Fig. 10. Détail d’une prise à la vénus

La pièce Origine est une installation in-situ. Fixée directement sur les murs, cette proposition crée

deux parcours d’escalade, ouvrant et clôturant la déambulation du visiteur. Les prises sont des

empreintes en béton noir de pierres taillées et de vénus. Ces tirages sont issus des collections du

musée. Les deux sexes représentés nous indiquent un parcours évoquant l’être humain dans sa

totalité. Dans une idée d’ascension, les parcours s’étendent du sol du rez-de-chaussée au premier

étage du musée. Ils offrent une voie différente, autre que les escaliers attendus et conventionnels.

Contre-pied de la pratique archéologique en soi qui consiste à faire des fouilles, à creuser le sol, à

déterrer, il est proposé ici de grimper, de s’élever. Cette proposition métaphorique met en avant

l’escalade vers cet inconnu intensément désirable : la connaissance de nos origines. Cette idée est

renforcée par la verticalité et l’épreuve. Ne font-elles pas de l’escalade un méta-sport, un sport de

dépassement de soi, une confrontation humaine avec l’élément originel ?


Fig. 11. Infra, installation in-situ au sol, empreintes

en béton noir, dimensions variables, 2019

Fig. 12. Détail d’empreinte de mains formant

un losange

La pièce Infra est la proposition la plus anachronique de toutes. C’est une installation in-situ,

réalisée au sol en écho à l’empreinte du site de Terra Amata. Ce sol, en référence aux premières

architectures funéraires mégalithiques du Néolithique, est inspiré d’une découverte faite dans la

grotte Chauvet : des gestes humains saisis dans la glaise, vieux de plus de 35 000 ans, semblent

avoir été réalisés dans l’instant. L’humidité ambiante du site, conservant la terre fraîche, efface ainsi

toute notion de temporalité. Infra, quant à elle, est constituée de dalles en béton noir. Chacune des

dalles est « empreinte » de signes digitaux que l’on retrouve dans certaines tombes préhistoriques,

ou d’empreintes de volumes diverses (ornements de figures abstraites, formes géométriques, vénus,

bifaces, choppers, chopping-tools, etc., datant de 380 000 à 3 000 ans). Marcel Duchamp parle de

l’inframince en ces termes : « La chaleur d’un siège qui vient d’être quitté est de l’ordre de

l’inframince. » (Duchamp, 1920). Cette phrase évoque la présence fantôme d’un instant terminé

mais toujours perceptible. Le temps s’évapore dans l’empreinte, qu’elle date de 380 000 ans ou

d’hier. Elle est toujours aussi vivace et sa signification sensible. Il y a une proximité étrange et

vertigineuse avec nos origines par les traces et les empreintes qui arrivent jusqu’à nous.

Fig. 13.

, deux

« livres » aux feuilles libres et teintées dans la

masse avec de l’ocre et du charbon de bois,

gaufrées d’un message sonore, 2019

Fig. 14. Photographies et vues spectrométriques

d’un granule d’ocre

est une œuvre réalisée en regard aux « crayons » d’ocre découverts

sur le site et plus particulièrement la transformation d’ocre jaune en ocre rouge sous l'action du feu.

La transformation de la goethite en hématite et la découverte d'un nombre remarquable d’ocres, soit

76 granulés de 1 à 2 cm d’épaisseur, démontrent une action anthropique délibérée. Ces granules

d’ocre présentent une surface lustrée indiquant qu'ils ont été frottés sur une surface molle. Premiers


éléments de peinture corporelle ? Premier signe d'une expression graphique ? Nos outils d'analyse

nous font encore défaut pour déterminer une utilisation intentionnelle par les femmes et les hommes

de Terra Amata. À quoi ces « crayons » d’ocre ont-ils servi ? Rien n'est encore scientifiquement

démontré, et sans trace, le mystère reste entier. Nous ne savons pas à quoi ces ocres ont servi, mais

ils ont servi. Ceci pose la question de l'expression symbolique / graphique humaine il y a 400 000

ans. En regard à cette question laissée en suspens, la pièce se matérialise en deux livres de poche,

des livres qui nous accompagnent dans nos itinérances. Non reliés, ces livres sont constitués de

feuilles libres. Chacune de ces feuilles est entièrement faite à la main, teintée dans la masse et

gaufrée d’un message phonétique indéchiffrable. Chaque feuille est comme une peau qui fait corps

avec la couleur de l’ocre pour le premier des livres et du charbon ce bois pour le second. Le message

gaufré représente une écriture, silencieuse, un message oral sous la forme d’un graphisme sonore. Il

fait écho à la pratique de la scarification, autre expression graphique corporelle que l’on retrouve

chez des ethnies premières…

Fig. 15. Ligne, vidéo, 2’53’’, copyright Simone Simon/Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac, 2019

La vidéo Ligne est un clin d’œil aux foyers les plus anciens du monde découverts sur le site de

Terra Amata. L’action filmée présente une main traversant l’écran de gauche vers la droite munie

d’un charbon de bois, outil premier de dessin. La main trace une écriture, une ligne vibrante de

manière physique. Le charbon crisse, craque, crépite sous la pression de la main dessinatrice.

Plusieurs interprétations sont possibles pour aborder cette trace en mouvement. Nous pouvons y voir

la représentation d’un simple paysage, l’espace du cadre filmé étant scindé horizontalement en deux

parties en son centre. Cette ligne peut également exister pour elle-même, uniquement pour

l’expérience en soi de l’acte de dessiner. Le médium vidéo capture et retransmet ce geste en train

d’être réalisé in vivo. Absent habituellement de notre regard, ce geste du dessin est ici le sujet.

Finalement, cette ligne peut aussi être la représentation du bruit que produit le geste même de tracer

des lignes écrasant le charbon de bois sur la surface de la feuille, au même titre que la représentation

graphique du crépitement du feu. Une exemplification 2 en somme : le charbon de bois issu du feu, le

bruit de ce feu et sa représentation graphique. Par l’épreuve (double sens ici qui renvoie à l’action et

au champ lexical photographique) du geste dessinant une ligne, la main écrase le charbon de bois.

Le dessin obtenu est le résultat de la confrontation de l’outil au support. Les craquements, les

frottements, les éclatements, tous ces phénomènes induisent le résultat final du dessin. La puissance,

la dynamique et la rythmique sont propres à l’endurance du corps dessinant et à la résistance

physique du morceau de charbon de bois sur le support.

2 Pour reprendre le terme de Goodman (2005).


Toutes ces réalisations font échos aux collections du musée de Terra Amata et à la pratique

archéologique. S’élever vers nos ancêtres, évincer toute temporalité par la méthode de l’empreinte,

aborder l’expression par le récit imaginaire, expérimenter l’acte graphique pour lui-même sont

autant de pas de côté pour montrer ces vestiges au travers d’un prisme poétique, expérimental et

pourtant ancré dans des données concrètes.

Conclusion

« Ce n’est pas ce que vous faîtes qui importe mais ce qui vous pousse à le faire »

Dennis Oppenheim 3

L’origine de l’Homme est bien évidemment réelle mais elle nous est cachée probablement à

jamais. Cela ne nous empêche pas de vouloir tendre vers elle. Il semble que c’est ici une intention

analogue et partagée entre la pratique de l’artiste et celle du Préhistorien. L’imaginaire artistique

permet ce que ne peut s’octroyer la science, à savoir développer, extrapoler en sorte, des idées

poétiques. Les éléments anthropiques découverts sur le site de Terra Amata, vieux de 380 000 ans,

sont une source d’inspiration sans fin. Quand le scientifique s’attache à des données strictement

concrètes pour les étudier, la liberté de l’approche artistique s’en sert pour aborder des notions telles

que l’expression, la trace, la présence humaine, la quête vers nos origines. L’installation in-situ est

une pratique artistique d’intervention dans un lieu et en fonction de ce lieu. Elle est donc pensée

pour être perçue, vécue, ressentie par le spectateur et tenter ainsi de le questionner en regard de ce

qui l’entoure. L’expression humaine en fonction d’un lieu et de son environnement n’est pas une

pratique nouvelle. « L’art » pariétal remonte au moins en Europe à l’époque aurignacienne, comme

en témoigne la grotte Chauvet et bien d’autres sites. Il y a 36 000 ans, des êtres humains sont

intervenus sur les parois. Ces Homo sapiens s’exprimaient graphiquement à l’aide de charbon de

bois ou d’ocres. D’autres témoignages d’expressions graphiques beaucoup plus anciennes ne nous

sont pas parvenus. Irrémédiablement perdues, elles auront dû être réalisées sur des supports

périssables… L’analyse des 76 « crayons d’ocres » à Terra Amata permettra-t-elle un jour de

repousser la date des premières expressions humaines ? Les futures technologies nous le diront peutêtre

? Que ce soit dans l’intention de l’artiste ou dans celle de l’archéologue, dans la pratique même

de chacun subsiste l’idée de promesse.

Bibliographie

ARDENNE P. (2002) - Un art contextuel, Paris, Flammarion, 256 p.

DIDI HUBERMAN G. (2008) - Ressemblance par contact, Paris, Éditions de Minuit, p. 384.

DOMINO Ch. (1999) - A ciel ouvert : L'art contemporain à l'échelle du paysage, Lyon, Nouvelles éditions Scala,

125 p.

DUCHAMP M. (1920) – Notes, inframince 11, Paris, Centre National d’Art Georges Pompidou, sans pagination.

GOODMAN N. (2005) - Langages de l’art : Une approche de la théorie des symboles, Paris Hachette, 313 p.

LUMLEY H. de ; LUMLEY M.-A. de ; ECHASSOUX A. et ROUSSEL B. (2009) – « Historique des fouilles et des

recherches sur le site acheuléen de Terra Amata ». In : H. de Lumley (dir.), Terra Amata, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes,

tome I, Paris, CNRS EDITIONS, p. 29-77.

LUMLEY H. de ; CAUCHE D. ; EL GUENOUNI K. ; GARRIGUE N. ; LUMLEY M.-A. de ; POLLET G. et

ROUSSEL B. (2016a) – « La maîtrise du feu dans les cultures paléolithiques ». In : H. de Lumley (dir.), Terra

Amata, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, tome V, Comportement et mode de vie des chasseurs acheuléens, Paris, CNRS

EDITIONS, p. 97-113.

3 Cité par Domino (1999).


LUMLEY H. de ; AUDUBERT F. D. ; KHATIB S. ; PERRENOUD Ch. ; ROUSSEL B. ; SAOS Th. et SZELEWA A.

(2016b) - Les « crayons » d’ocre du site acheuléen de Terra Amata. In : H. de Lumley (dir.), Terra Amata, Nice,

Alpes-Maritimes, tome V, Comportement et mode de vie des chasseurs acheuléens, Paris, CNRS EDITIONS, p.

233-277.


The Querulous Hermann Fol (1845-1892):

His Scientific Work, Art, and Inventions

Le Querelleur Hermann Fol (1845-1892) : Ses travaux Scientifiques, son

Art et ses Inventions

John R. Dolan 1

1

Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer, Sorbonne Université CNRS UMR 7093, Station Zoologique,

Villefranche-sur-Mer 06230, France, john.dolan@imev-mer.fr

ABSTRACT. Hermann Fol was a very accomplished Swiss naturalist of the late 19th century, but today is largely

forgotten. He was a student of the notable biologists Édouard Claparède and Ernst Haeckel, and like them, specialized in

the study of marine organisms. Fol is known only among embryologists for his description of fertilization in echinoderms.

In reality, his work ranged well beyond such studies to encompass diverse taxa of the marine plankton, illustrated with

remarkable scientific artwork, and included designing various scientific devices. Fol worked on human embryology, light

penetration in seawater, methods of reducing microbial contamination of drinking water, and development of a rabies

vaccine. His career was marked by a long series of disputes with contemporary naturalists and was relatively short,

ending at age 47 with a mysterious disappearance. Here I provide a review of his contentious life, his scientific work, his

scientific art, his scientific inventions, and his role in establishing Villefranche-sur-Mer as a center of marine science. The

life and work of Hermann Fol is shown to be an example of the very wide-ranging activities of 19th century naturalists,

and the apparent dangers of an over-sized ego.

KEYWORDS. history of science, scientific illustration, microscopy, marine stations.

Introduction

Few people today know of the 19th century Swiss naturalist Hermann Fol. He mainly worked on

fertilization, embryology, and the development of marine invertebrates such as molluscs, starfish, and

various gelatinous taxa. Fol is given a place in reviews of the history of fertilization (e.g., Ernst 2011).

However, it will be shown here that Fol's activities ranged well beyond developmental biology of

invertebrates. His studies encompassed human embryology, bacteriology, protistology, the penetration

of light in seawater, and even rabies. Many of his works were magnificently illustrated. Fol developed

new methods and devices in microscopy, bacteriology, photography, and oceanography. In his time,

his work was very well known, extensively translated, and re-published throughout Europe and in

North America. Fol was also known as a difficult character. His publications often contained

accusations of others misappropriating priority credit for his observations, or pointing out supposed

faults, and otherwise maligning his contemporaries. The obscurity of Fol today is likely due in part to

his difficult character resulting in a relative dearth of friends and students despite his fame, and the fact

that he worked on a wide variety of topics. In addition his career was cut short with a mysterious

disappearance in 1892 when he was only 47 years old.

Here an attempt is made to shine a light on the accomplishments of the difficult but productive

Herman Fol. To begin, a biographical account is provided including his role in the establishment of a

marine laboratory in Villefranche-sur-Mer, often minimized or overlooked, and an account of his

mysterious disappearance at sea, based on reports in the popular press. The biography is followed by a

chronological presentation of some of his wide-ranging scientific work with examples of his striking

scientific artwork, as well as examples of Fol's diverse disputes and disagreements with his

contemporaries. A complete account of Fol's scientific work, with a definitive bibliography, was

provided by Bedot (1895). Lastly, the relatively unknown aspects of Fol's work, his diverse inventions

and methods developments, are reviewed.


The life and career of Hermann Fol

As alluded to above, the first and most complete account of Fol's life and works was by Maurice

Bedot, a long-time colleague of Fol (Bedot 1894) with subsequent accounts all largely based on it,

either directly or indirectly. These include a long article on Fol in an Italian newspaper (Anon. 1894),

the Hermann Fol entry in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Allen 1981), and in the Encyclopedia

of Life (Dröscher 2015), the two accounts of Fol in articles focused on Henri Lacaze-Duthiers (Petit &

Théorides 1972; Jessus & Laudet 2022), and a short memorial note on Fol (Beuss 1945). The

biographical sketch given here is also based on Bedot (1894) except where otherwise noted. Figure one

shows the known likenesses of Hermann Fol from the age of 19 to a statue in the University of

Genèva, donated to the university by Fol's widow in 1905.

Figure 1. The only existing likenesses of Hermann Fol: A. a portrait at age 19 from the author's personal

collection. B. an engraving dating from ca. 1880, held by the Bibliothèque de Genève. C. a portrait ca. 1890 at

about age 45 from Bedot 1894. D. image of the bust of Fol donated to the University of Geneva in 1905 by his

widow, image source https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UniBastions-1er-buste-Fol-

1.jpg&oldid=657602900.

Hermann Fol was born July 23 rd , 1845, into a wealthy family of bankers from Geneva, at the time

living in St. Mandé, near Paris. He was sent to Geneva to secondary school and there also took classes

in natural history at the Academy of Sciences. At the Academy, Fol became a student of Édouard

Claparède, the renowned Swiss naturalist (Hollier & Hollier 2023). Claparède was an expert on protists

and invertebrates. He had studied medicine under Johannes Müller in Berlin along with Ernst Haeckel,

and was a life-long friend of Haeckel (Dolan 2021). Claparède encouraged Fol to purse studies in Jena

under Haeckel, then a Professor of Medicine. At the time, subjects such as zoology and physiology

were taught as part of the curriculum leading to a medical degree.

Fol began his studies in Jena in 1864 (Fol 1869). In 1866, Haeckel chose him, as his most intelligent

student, to participate in a zoological expedition to the Canary Islands (Richard 2008). Haeckel's group

included another of his students, Nikolai Miklucho, and the zoologist Richard Greeff. Haeckel came to

regret the choice of Fol. The group encountered great difficulties in obtaining housing, and supplies, as

well as adapting to the isolated community in Lanzerote (Sarmiento Pérez & Batista Rodriguez 2015).

In their crowded housing, Haeckel found Fol to be intolerably arrogant (Richard 2008). When they left

the Canaries, Haeckel deposited his two students on the Atlantic coast of Morocco to make their own

way home, while he and Greeff sailed on to Europe.

Fol subsequently pursued his medical studies, not in Jena, but in multiple institutions, perhaps an

early sign of his difficulties with inter-personal relationships. He studied in Heidelberg in 1867, then in

Zurich in 1868, and finally in Berlin late 1868 (Fol 1869). In August of 1869 he passed the

examinations for his medical degree in Berlin. His doctoral dissertation was on the anatomy and

evolutionary history of some ctenophores (Fol 1869), and was based on his studies of the gelantinous


organisms of the marine plankton carried out while he was in the Canaries with Haeckel. Nonetheless,

Fol dedicated his dissertation, not to Haeckel but Carl Gegenbauer, another Professor at Jena!

His medical degree in hand, Fol returned to Geneva, but not to practice medicine. As a wealthy man,

he had no need to earn an income. Fol continued working on the anatomy and developmental biology

of marine invertebrates. Following Haeckel's footsteps who had made his landmark study of

radiolarians in Messina (Haeckel 1862), Fol installed a personal laboratory in Messina. Beginning in

the winter of 1869, and until 1877, he made extended stays in Messina working on various taxa of the

marine plankton. In 1873 he married Emma Bourrit and they soon had a daughter, Alice, who would

become, like her father, an expert on marine molluscs (Franc 1972).

By 1877, Fol had become a well-known figure in zoology. He had published widely on the anatomy

and development of molluscs and was offered a chair of Embryology in Naples that he refused,

preferring to stay in Geneva. With aid of Carl Vogt, Fol was appointed "Professeur Ordinaire" of

embryology at the University of Geneva in 1878 (Tregobouff 1983). The part-time, low paid, position

involved teaching only in the summer, giving him liberty to pursue his research for most of the year.

Fol then transferred his site of fieldwork from Messina to Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice (France), a

site much more easily accessible from Geneva. Villefranche-sur-Mer was where Haeckel had worked a

few years before, and before Haeckel, Carl Vogt. Vogt had actually singled out Villefranche-sur-Mer

(hereon Villefranche) as an ideal site for a new marine laboratory in an article on laboratories of

marine zoology (Vogt 1876); he had made extensive studies of the marine plankton in Villefranche

over many years (e.g. Vogt 1853, 1854). Seemingly taking up Vogt's suggestion, Fol announced the

establishment of his private laboratory in Villefranche, open to all who wanted to study marine

zoology, in 1879 (Wartman 1879), and that year signed his first publication as from Villefranche (Fol

1879). In a letter to Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers from Villefranche, Fol gave his address as Observatoire

Zoologique (Archival Resources, Hermann Fol letters to Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, p. 149).

Fol's private laboratory was short-lived. In 1882 Jules Barrois, of the University of Lille, established

a modest, but the first officially sanctioned, scientific institution in Villefranche-sur-Mer, the

Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de Villefranche. It was established as a field station of the École

Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, under the Ministry of Education (Barrois 1882). Fol donated all

the material and instruments he had in his private laboratory and began working in Barrois's laboratory.

Fol took advantage of the fact that the laboratory was accorded the use of French naval vessels to run

experiments, such as those estimating the depth of the penetration of light in the sea (e.g., Fol &

Sarrasin 1885).

In 1884 Fol created a new scientific journal, the first Swiss journal devoted to zoology, Recueil

Zoologique Suisse and its appearance was greeted with lavish compliments (Anon. 1884). 1886 was an

eventful year for Fol. He either lost, or resigned, from his position at the University of Geneva for

reasons that are unclear today. However, it was a quite public affair. Fol had his resignation letter

published in the main newspaper of Geneva, the Journal de Genève (Fol 1886a). He claimed he had

no choice but to resign as other faculty members attempted to deny him the privileges and rights due

him. Although Fol remained quite active in the scientific circles of Geneva, lecturing and writing, it

was also in 1886 that he acquired his final official affiliation, not in Geneva but in Villefranche. He

became Directeur Adjoint of the Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de Villefranche (Barrois & Fol

1886), and he bought a 39-ton steamer yacht, christened the Amphiaster, and had it equipped for deep

water sampling work for the laboratory. The changes in Fol's official affiliations through the years

from none to the University of Geneva, and finally the Villefranche laboratory, were reflected in his

letterheads (Fig. 2).


Figure 2. The three letterheads of Fol from his letters to Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers from 1874 to 1898 (see

Archival resources: Hermann Fol Letters): A. Simple initials until 1877. B. Fol's embryology laboratory in

University of Geneva from 1877 to 1886. C. the Villefranche laboratory.

Despite Fol's material contributions to the Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de Villefranche, his

official position in the laboratory, and his considerable international stature, Fol (along with Barrois),

was soon to be ousted due to the actions of Alexis Korotneff. The following is based on the account

given by Tregobouff (1983). Alexis Korotneff was a Professor of the University of Kiev, and familiar

with Villefranche. He had visited in 1881 and had then the idea to establish a Russian zoological

laboratory in the large empty buildings known at the time as the "Maison Russe". It had been leased to

the Russian Navy, for use as coal depot, but had been unused for decades, and was now within the

grounds of a French military base, a garrison of the Chasseurs Alpins. Establishing a Russian

laboratory in France within military grounds was possibly problematic. At the suggestion of Carl Vogt,

Korotneff persuaded Barrois to support the establishment of a Franco-Russian laboratory in the Maison

Russe housing both the French zoological laboratory of Villefranche and a Russian Zoological Station.

Interestingly, in Barrois's official annual report to the École Pratique des Hautes Études on the

activities of the laboratory for 1884, he stated that the Russian government had ceded the "Maison

Russe" to the Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de Villefranche, and he made no mention of a Russian

zoological station (Barrois 1884). The annual reports from 1886 to 1889 also contain no mentions of a

Russian zoological station, and Koronteff is simply listed among visiting scientists (Barrois 1886;

Barrois & Fol 1887, 1888). In reports of subsequent years, no mention is made of Korotneff (Barrois &

Fol 1889; Barrois 1892; Anon. 1893).

According to Tregobouff's account of the brief period when Fol, Barrois and Korotneff together

occupied the Maison Russe, Fol's abrasive personality played a large role in the falling out of Fol,

Barrois and Korotneff. However, there were apparently no innocents among the three. In reality the

property was, in the view of French law, still legitimately leased to the Russian government, and its

representative was the legal tenant. In January of 1888, Korotneff had both Fol and Barrois evicted

from the Maison Russe that then became the Station Zoologique Russe de Villefranche-sur-Mer under

Korotneff's direction. It remained an independent facility with a Russian director until the 1930's when

it was nationalized by the French government and put under the direction of the Laboratoire Arago in

Banyuls of the Université de Paris. Today, it is part of the Institut de la Mer de Villefranche, a field

station of Sorbonne Université.

Following his eviction from the Villefranche laboratory, Fol planned to create a new laboratory in

Nice that would include a public aquarium. According to a contemporary press report, the city of Nice

had agreed to supply land near the port (Anon. 1890). However, the project was never realized as

Hermann Fol mysteriously disappeared, apparently at sea, in 1892. No references exist to any official

report concerning Fol's disappearance. The only information available today is from press reports

published in 1892.

According to the press reports, on or about March 3, Fol embarked on a recently purchased vessel,

the Aster, from Le Havre, on the Channel coast of France, to travel to Nice where his sampling gear

was stored. He was then to set out to investigate deep-water sponges throughout the Mediterranean


Sea. Although he was not employed in any fashion by the government, Fol's expedition was sanctioned

by the Ministère de l'Instruction Publique (Ministry of Education). On March 24, about three weeks

after departure, was the last confirmed contact with the Aster. It was in Bénodet, on the coast of

Britanny, a distance of only about 500 km from Le Havre by sea. A crew member asked a lighthouse

keeper where water could be obtained. He also stated that the ship's master was not on board, and the

crew was taking the ship to the Mediterranean port of Marseille. Informed that only by filling buckets

could they have water, the Aster apparently left Bénodet without obtaining any water. Subsequently,

there were only reports of possible sightings of the Aster, near Coruna (Spain), and off the coast of

Africa. There were no reports of contacts with the vessel, nor any members of the crew. Surprisingly, it

was not until nearly four months after the departure from Le Havre, that an alarm was raised by Fol's

wife and his brother-in-law concerning a lack of contact with Fol or any news of the Aster.

The press reports which began appearing in late June of 1892 were remarkably widespread, often

contradictory and one, singularly odd. The first published were short notices that began to appear June

26, stating that the Ministère de l'Instruction Publique, (or in some notices, the Ministère de la Marine)

were conducting an investigation into the disappearance of Fol and the Aster (Fig. 3A). The

'investigation', of which there is no trace, was likely provoked by inquires from Fol's wife and his

brother-in-law. The notices appeared in both Paris and provincial newspapers. On July 1st,

advertisements by Fol's wife appeared in the London Times and the New York Herald (Fig 3B). She

stated her fear that an act of 'baratry' (i.e., theft of the Aster by the crew) had been committed based on

the fact that in the last contact with a crew member, in Bénodet, an unidentified crew member had

reportedly said that the owner was no longer on board, and that crew were to sail on their own to the

Mediterranean Sea. Simultaneously, her brother, C. Bourrit, sent a letter to the Paris newspaper La

Petite Presse, stating that his own investigations in Le Havre and Bénodet led him to believe that the

crew, too rapidly chosen by Fol in his view, had done away with Fol. Bourrit's letter, in part (e.g. Fig.

3C) or whole, was very widely reprinted in newspapers throughout France, in Switzerland, and even in

Algeria. No new information came to light until late August when a brief undocumented report, said to

have originated from the Venice Gazette, stated that the Aster had been captured, and the crew

massacred by pirates off the coast of Algeria (Fig. 3D). The notice was widely reprinted. Apparently

no attempts were made to verify the singular report; it was often printed with the notice "nous

reproduisons cette information à titre de curiosité" (we reproduce this information as a curiosity).


Figure 3. The disappearance of Herman Fol and the Aster in the popular press in 1892: A. The first reports

were brief notices that inquiries were being made by the Ministry of Education concerning Fol's yacht having

gone missing for 3 months; the example from Le Rappel on June 27 (Anon. 1892a) includes a not uncommon

misspelling of Fol 's name in the press as Foll. B. The advertisement, placed by Fol's wife in the Herald,

contained the allegation that the crew had stolen the Aster as a crew member had told an official in Bénodet

that the owner of the Aster was no longer on board (Fol, E. 1892). C. The allegation was repeated in a letter by

Fol's brother-in-law that was widely reprinted in early July; the example shown is from the La Petite Parisien on

July 2nd (Anon. 1892b). D. The last wide-spread press accounts were reprints of the brief and unverified

report that the Aster had been captured by pirates and the crew massacred; the example shown is from Le

XIX Siecle on the 29th of August (Anon. 1892c).

There was but one article in the press that questioned the very feasibility of Fol's voyage from Le

Havre to Nice with the Aster. The article was based on a first hand account of the vessel, and the crew,

by an anonymous experienced sailor. He claimed to know well both the vessel, and the planned route.

According to the sailor, the Aster, originally named the Berta, was a 25-meter steam-powered,

propeller driven vessel. It was designed and built to navigate rivers primarily by steam power, and

according to the sailor, it was particularly unsuited to sail in the open ocean. Furthermore, he stated

that in any vessel, crossing the Bay of Biscay in the month of March was difficult, but with a vessel

such as the Aster, was simply "a colossal imprudence" (Anon. 1892d). One other report provided

important information concerning the vessel's range. An account of a coal merchant who delivered coal

to the Aster while it was in Le Havre, stated that the coal storage space of the Aster would allow it to

steam no further than Brest, indicating a maximum range of about 400 Km under steam power (Anon.

1892e). Thus, for a long distance voyage, re-fueling stops every few days would be necessary. Recall

that the last contact with the Aster was in Bénodet near Brest in Britanny a few days after the boat was

last re-fueled in Brest. A singularly odd press account, entitled the Le vaisseau fantôme (the ghost

ship), appeared on the first page of the Paris newspaper Le Public on June 29th, relatively early in the

mystery. It was authored by Victor de Cottens, a drama critic and playwright, who claimed to have

been a friend of Fol. Supposedly, a bottle with a message, unsigned but described as clearly by Fol,

had been found near a drifting vessel off the west coast of Africa. In the message, the writer states that

he avoided a near mutiny of his crew and they had visited a wonderful country (Cotten 1892). No


details are given as to how or when de Cottens acquired the message, perhaps indicating that his story

was not to be taken seriously!

Obviously, many questions remain concerning Fol's disappearance. One could begin with why Fol

bought a boat in Le Havre, rather than in Nice or Marseille, thereby avoiding the time and expense

involved in sailing from Le Havre to Nice. Then there is the basis of the allegations of foul play by the

crew based on the statement of a crew member informing an official in Bénodet that the owner of the

Aster was longer on board. Why would the fact that Fol was not on board necessarily indicate foul play

by the crew? Why would a crew member volunteer such supposedly incriminating information? Was

there an assumption that Fol would likely have antagonized the crew? It is also worth noting that none

of the families of the crew ever heard from any of them, and the families vigorously denied any

criminal tendencies among the crew members (Anon 1892f). Nonetheless, the assumption that the crew

of the Aster did away with Fol was common (e.g. Béthuys 1895) and has been long-lived (e.g., Grassé

1982). It appears most probable that the Aster was lost at sea along with the crew in attempting to cross

the Gulf of Gascogne. What will likely never be known is whether or not Fol was on board!

The Scientific Work and Scientific Art of Hermann Fol

The first scientific work of Hermann Fol was his doctoral dissertation "Anatomie und

Entwickelungsgeschichte einiger Rippenquallen" (The Anatomy and Evolutionary History of Some

Ctenophores). Despite its title, it was on the embryology of ctenophores, a taxon of gelatinous marine

invertebrates of the plankton. As previously mentioned, it was based on observations Fol made in the

Canaries during Haeckel's 1868 expedition. Remarkably, Fol's doctoral study was never published in a

scientific journal, and in fact he never returned to studies of ctenophores. However, his dissertation did

give a good indication of his future career. Development biology would remain Fol's main focus of

research, and this first work, while quite short (12 pages of text), was richly illustrated (3 lithographed

plates) as many of his future works would be. A portion of one of the plates, using white on black,

from his first work is shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 4. The bottom portion of the first plate in Fol's 1869 dissertation showing different aspects of a four day

old embryo of the ctenophore Eurhamphaea vexilligera. H. Fol is credited as the artist of the plate and W.A.

Meyn as the lithographer.


Following his dissertation, Fol was soon at work on marine invertebrates in Messina. There he first

worked on descriptive studies on the anatomy and taxonomy of appendicularians, a taxon of

gelantinous marine zooplankton, which yielded his first monographic study "Etudes sur les

appendiculaires du Détroit de Messine" (Fol 1872). He described nine new species of

appendicularians, eight of which are recognized today as valid first descriptions. The illustrations were

quite striking (see Fig. 5A). Fol soon returned to studies of development, concerning yet another taxon

of gelatinous zooplankton, medusa. He documented and illustrated the development from the egg to

feeding larval stage in Geryonia fungiformis (fig. 5B), in a German language journal (Fol 1873a). That

same year he also published a short summary of his study in French (Fol 1873b). Fol next turned to

molluscs with extensive studies on the development of pelagic molluscs. His first reports appeared in

the journal of the French Academy of Sciences (Fol 1875a,b) and were translated into English and

appeared in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Fol 1875c,d). These publications were

followed by his first large work that appeared in 1875 in the Archives de Zoologie Experimentale et

Générale (Fol 1875e), focused on the development of the heteropod molluscs of the marine plankton,

and it included ten spectacular plates, seven of which were in color (e.g. Fig. 5C). Fol later published a

book version of his article and dedicated to his teacher of the Academy of Sciences in Geneva,

Édouard Claparède (Fol 1875f). Thus, by the mid-1870's when he was but in his early 30's, Fol, as yet

without any academic affiliation, had established himself as a talented developmental biologist.

However, by this time he had also established a reputation as a quarrelsome academic with his attacks

against his contemporaries.

Figure 5. Examples of Fol's illustrations in his publications on marine invertebrates: A. from Fol's 1872 study

of appendicularians (Fol 1872). Fol is credited as the artist and W. Grohmann as the engraver (Wilhelm

Grohman of Berlin). B. Plate two from Fol's 1873 study of the development of the medusa Geryonia

fungiformis. The plate credits H. Fol, ad. nat. (after nature), as the artist and W. Grohmann as the engraver. C.

Plate IV from Fol's 1875 monograph on the development of the heteropod molluscs (1875e). The plate credits

H. Fol, ad. nat. (after nature), as the artist and Lagesse as the engraver.

Fol's first salvo was directed against a summary of his study of the development of the medusa

Geryonia fungiformis that appeared in the Journal de Zoologie (Boulbart 1874). Fol began a short

paper, yet again summarizing his results concerning G. fungiformis (Fol 1874a), with a sentence

stating that the summary in the Journal de Zoologie was a singular tissue of absurdities that

necessitated a re-publication of his conclusions. Oddly, Fol did not state what in his view was absurd;

he simply repeated nearly word for word his previously published digest of the work (Fol 1873b). Next

to be subjected to Fol's ire was Alfred Giard. Fol attacked Giard's 1873 study (Giard 1873), charging

that he had willfully ignored Fol's priority in attributing a role of an organ in appendicularia in feeding

(Fol 1874b). Also in 1874, Fol attacked E. Ray Lankester over a matter of supposed priority in first

describing the existence of a shell gland in molluscs. Fol claimed that Lankester learned of the shell

gland during visits to Fol's home laboratory in Messina (Fol 1874c). Fol's accusation was hotly


contested by an outraged Lankester who stated that he had once briefly seen Fol (Lankester 1875). Fol

replied by claiming that Lankester had apparently forgotten his multiple conversations and visits (Fol

1875g).

Fol's attacks against Giard and Lankester, were typical in that they involved a claim of denied

priority of the description of a relatively unimportant detail, and targeted relatively important

personalities. In 1874, Giard was a Professor at the University of Lille and he had just founded the

Station Marine de Wimereux. Jules Barrois, the founder of the Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de

Villefranche, was one of his students. Giard would later occupy a chair of Zoology at the Sorbonne,

and be elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris (Caullery 1909). In 1874, Lankester was

an established scientist and an editor of Journal of Microscopical Science, a role he would occupy for

nearly fifty years, during which time the journal would become the major English language journal of

developmental biology (Bourne 1919). Fol, early on, rather needlessly made enemies of important

people.

In 1876 Fol began his studies on fertilization during his stays in Messina, studies that would become

his most important contributions. They first appeared in a series of five papers in the journal of the

French Academy of Sciences (Fol, 1877a,b,c,d,e). His reports were translated into English (e.g., Fol

1877f ) and Italian (e.g., Fol 1877g). In his developmental studies, Fol pointedly took issue with his

former teacher Ernst Haeckel's command of Greek. Fol insisted that Haeckel's term for the

development, "Ontogeny" was not based on the correct Greek root and should be actually "Henogeny".

He made his arguments on the first page of an article he published twice, first in a Swiss journal (Fol

1877h) and again in a French journal (Fol 1877i). Perhaps, needless to say, that Fol's opinion was

ignored as the famous of dictum of Haeckel, "Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny" never became

'Henogeny recapitulates Phylogeny".

Fol's observations of fertilization contrasted in some details with those of Giard (Giard 1877a). Fol

then aggressively countered Giard, claiming that Giard's observations must have been made on

abnormally fertilized eggs (Fol 1877d). Once again, Fol's attacks provoked an outraged defense (Giard

1877b). However, Fol actually had the last word as he has long been recognized as the first to have

made detailed observations of the process of fertilization in the starfish, describing it as the result of a

single sperm cell contributing nuclear material to the ovum (Allen 1959; Ernst 2011; Laubichler and

Davidson 2008; Lillie 1916). Fol later published more detailed and illustrated account in a substantial

review monograph of nearly 400 pages of text and ten plates (Fol 1878-1879). Fol's now well known

illustration, from plate three of his monograph, of a single sperm cell penetrating a cone-shaped

structure on the outer membrane of an ovum is shown in Fig. 6. Fol went to considerable trouble with

regard to the production of the plates. They are credited to Fol as the artist and Lövendal (Emil Adolf

Lövendal) of Copenhagen as the engraver. Fol would later become known for being particular about

the production of his plates, preferring to have his plates made by workers chosen by himself, rather

than trusting them to the publisher of the journal (Jessus & Laudet 2022).

Figure 6. The top panel from plate three of Fol's monograph of 1878-1879 on the fertilization and early

development showing the fertilzation of a seastar egg. The plate is credited to Fol as the artist and Lövendal

(Emil Adolf Lövendal of Copenhagen) as the engraver Fol's illustrations of fertilzation have been called


remarkable (Allen 1959), and have been reproduced in recent years

(e.g., Buscaglia & Duboule 2002; Sardet, 2023).

When Fol transferred his private laboratory to Villefranche in 1879, his fieldwork went in new

directions. At first, Fol began working on microscopic organisms of the marine plankton, protists,

rather than the invertebrates he had studied in Messina. While Fol was an expert microscopist, he

previously had shown no interest in microscopic organisms. The protists Fol studied are taxa that can

be collected easily with a fine net in shallow waters, and they display eye-catching motility. Planktonic

protists were perhaps an object of study by default in his early stays in Villefranche as he apparently

did not have access to a boat nor contacts among the local fishermen. His studies concerned tintinnid

ciliates (Fol 1881a, 1883a) and the enigmatic rhizopod Sticholonche zanclea (Fol 1883b). Fol's articles

contained valuable new information on behaviours, details of morphology, and for tintinnid ciliates,

descriptions of new species. However, they also contain lengthy critiques of previous studies. The

plates of the studies (Fig. 7) illustrated morphological details that were previously undescribed. For the

second study of tintinnid ciliates (Fol 1883a) and the article on S. zanclea (Fol 1883b), Fol again went

to considerable trouble with regard to his plates. He had them produced by the firm of Werner and

Winter in Frankfort, the premier lithographers of their time (Goldschmidt 1956). Fol's articles on

tintinnid ciliates were also published in English (Anon. 1881; Fol 1881b; 1883c).

Figure 7. Plates from Fol's studies in Villefranche on protists of the marine plankton, during his early winter

stays, 1879 to 1881 when he was working in his private laboratory: A. The plate from Fol 1881, showing new

species of tintinnid ciliates in their loricas or shells (center and lower left figures) and a pair of conjugating

cells, exchanging genetic material (lower right figure). The plate credits Fol as the artist but no engraver or

lithographer is given. B. One of the plates from Fol's study of the enigmatic rhizopod species Sticholonche

zanclea (Fol 1883b); he erected an order for it alone declaring it to have no close relatives among known

rhizopod taxa and it remains today a species with its own genus and order. The plate credits Fol as the author

and as lithographer Werner & Winter of Frankfort. The inset (added) shows the detailed structure of one of the

'oar' spicules, about 5 µm across. C. The plate from Fol's study of tintinnid ciliates during the winter of 1881

published in 1883 (Fol 1883a) on systematics, the chemical composition of the lorica, and the descriptions of

new species. As in the Sticholonche paper, the plate credits Fol as the author, and as lithographer, Werner &

Winter of Frankfort. In the three plates the actual sizes of the organisms shown range

from about 75 to 200 µm.


Back in Geneva, Fol began working on human embryology. He published his first study on the

anatomy of a 3-week-old fetus in a short report to the French Academy of Sciences in late 1883 (Fol

1883d). It was followed by a much more detailed and illustrated reports in the Revue Médicale de la

Suisse Romande (Fol 1884a) and Fol's new journal Recueil Zoologique Suisse (1884b). The plates

were, once again, produced by Werner and Winter of Frankfort (Fig. 8A). Fol's next, and last, report on

human embryology created a stir. Fol first described the transitory existence of a tail in the human

embryo during the 5th and 6th weeks of development during a meeting of the Société de Physique et

d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève (1885a) and a short version of his report was read before to the French

Academy of Sciences, a few days later (Fol 1885b). His findings were widely disseminated (e.g. Anon.

1885a; Minot 1885). Fol did not return to studies of human embryology. However, interestingly, his

textbook on histology contained only 1 photomicrograph. It was in the first part of the textbook,

published a few years before his disappearance (Fol 1884c). The photomicrograph, an arresting image

of a human embryo (Fig. 8B), was in a discussion of the great difficulty of showing detail and the

depth of field in photomicrographs.

Figure 8. Fol's illustrations of human embryos: A. Plate 1 from Fol's 1884 article on the anatomy of a 3-week

old fetus (Fol 1884c). The plate credits Fol as the artist and Werner and Winter as lithographers. B. Fol's only

published photomicrograph, a human embryo, about 21 mm long (about 9 weeks of age), from the first part of

Fol's textbook on histology (Fol 1884c).

During this same period in Geneva, Fol became interested in both bacteriology and infectious

diseases. He published articles in the popular press on "microbes" (e.g. Fol 1883e, 1884d), some of

which were translated and published in the American journal Science (e.g. Fol 1884e,f) and he gave

lectures (Fig. 9). Fol conducted studies on the 'numbers of living germs' in the drinking water of

Geneva (Fol & Dunat 1884), and methods of purifying water (Fol & Dunat 1885). After a visit to

Louis Pasteur's laboratory in Paris, Fol turned his attention to the unidentified infectious microbe, the

causal agent of canine rabies (Anon. 1886a) . Fol's histological studies led him to believe that he might

have found an infectious agent (Fol 1885c). Fol attempted to culture the agent and supplied Pasteur

with the suspected agent (Fol 1886b,c). Fol's experiments were widely reported upon (e.g., Anon

1886b) and Pasteur himself was inclined to believe (for a time) that Fol had actually isolated the

infectious agent (Vignal 1886).


Figure 9. A. The cover and B. plate 3 "methods of culture and sterilization" from Fol's 1885 booklet derived

from public lectures he gave on "microbes" in January of 1885 (Fol 1885d). Note the use of elaborate Art

Nouveau fonts in the cover. The plates are all credited to S. Balicki as artist rather than Fol. It appears to be

the only publication by Fol with plates showing drawings not by Fol himself.

Meanwhile, during Fol's stays in Villefranche during these same years, he transferred some

fieldwork he had begun with the Swiss engineer Edouard Sarasin in Lake Geneva on the penetration of

light into lake water (Fol & Sarasin 1884, 1885a), to studies of seawater. With his integration into

Barrois's Laboratoire de Zoologie Marine de Villefranche, Fol and Sarasin gained access to the use of

French naval vessels to study the penetration of daylight in Mediterranean waters. They used a device

that exposed a photographic plate for 10 minutes at a desired depth and found that in the month of

March on cloudless day, at midday, light penetration regularly declined with depth to maximum depth

of 400 m (Fol & Sarasin 1885b CRAS). Their results were translated into English (Fol & Sarasin

1885c) and reported upon (e.g., Anon. 1885b). In Fol's last Villefranche-based study, Fol and Sarasin

examined the penetration of light at different times of day. They found that light was detectable from

shortly after dawn until sunset, not just at mid-day, at 300 m depth (Fol & Sarasin 1886). In their

article they also needlessly launched an attack against Carl Chun, and once again, a major scientific

figure was targeted over a detail.

Chun had reported that light could be detected at 550 m depth near Capri off the coast near Naples

(Italy), deeper than the 400 m measurement by Fol and Sarasin, using a similar technique. His results

appeared in a brief section in a long (65 pages) article focused on the existence of deep-water fauna,

not light in seawater (Chun 1887). Fol and Sarasin claimed that the deeper value reported by Chun was

likely an artifact of the device not actually being at 550 m, but a shallower depth. They asserted that

the cable was likely at an angle because the Naples boat crew was incapable of correctly manipulating

cables. Regardless of any matter of cable angle, oddly overlooked by Fol and Sarasin were quite

simple explanations of the differences. Measurements of a parameter in different sites, using different

devices would likely yield different figures. Furthermore, Chun's figures were from exposing a

photographic plate for 30 minutes rather than the 10 minutes used by Fol and Sarasin. Fol repeated his

attack on Chun, at length, in two of his last articles (Fol 1889, 1891a). Fol proclaimed his own priority

in measures of light at depth in the sea, actually not denied by Chun, and oddly claimed that Chun had


stated that Fol and Sarasin had copied the design of their devices from others. Chun was at the time a

Professor at the University of Königsburg. His 1887 article was dedicated to his father-in-law, Carl

Vogt, Fol's former mentor. Chun would later organize and head the Valdivia Deep-Sea Expedition of

1898-1899, the most important post-Challenger oceanographic expedition of the 19th century (Dolan

2023).

The Diverse Inventions of Herman Fol

Fol published frequently on inventions of new devices, instruments and methods. With regard to

most, his innovations were likely incited by problems he encountered or perceptions of a need to fill.

These include a trawl for collecting benthic fauna, designed to function regardless of how it landed on

the sea floor (Fig. 10.A.), a portable aquarium (Fol 1879), a portable microscope (Fol 1885e), a

chamber for making time-course microscopic observations (fig. 10.D.), and the devices for measuring

light penetration in the sea (Fig.10.C.). Fol developed protocols for anesthetizing marine vertebrates to

facilitate observations (Fol 1882), and procedures for histological studies (Fol 1883f), understandable,

given his considerable work on developmental biology of invertebrates. Fol also published on

protocols and equipment needed for sterile transfers of microbial cultures (Fol 1884g), again

understandable as he worked for a time on bacteriology. However, with regard to some of his

inventions, the motivation appeared to have been simply ideas he had as they are devices that had no

relationship to his published work. Examples of this are his design for a manometer to measure great

depths in the oceans (Fig. 10.E.). Fol himself never worked on soundings; he was working on the

developmental biology of invertebrates in Messina when he first proposed his design in 1874 (Fol

1874). Another is a camera (Fig. 10.B.), designed to take pictures in rapid succession, to capture

images of animals in action (Fol 1884h,i,j). Yet another is his plankton net. While Fol never worked on

deep-sea plankton, his last 'invention' was the proposal of a new closing plankton net (Fig. 10.F.),

closing resembling the net of Albert of Monaco (Monaco 1889), that could be mounted in a depth

series to collect plankton in discrete depth strata (Fol 1891). All in all, Fol's inventions characterize an

imaginative man, and also one who proposed new devices for endeavors in which he had no apparent

experience. Notably, there appear no references attesting to the actual construction of some of his

inventions such as the closing net array and camera, nor the use of any of his inventions or protocols,

by anyone other than himself. In his papers on new devices and methods, Fol did not do the drawings,

in contrast with the illustrations of his research articles.

Figure 10. Examples of the diverse inventions of Hermann Fol: A. Fol's double arc trawl that sampled bottom

fauna regardless of which side landed on the bottom (Fol 1883f). The drawing is not credited. B. Fol's camera

designed to take in quick succession a series of images and to be easily carried in the field (Fol 1884i). The

drawing is by Auguste Tilly. C. The devices of Fol and Sarasin used to expose photographic plates at depth in

the sea (Fol & Sarasin 1887). The drawing is not credited. D. Fol's compression chamber to allow observations

of specimens under the microscope over extended periods of time (Fol 1876). The drawing is not credited. E.


Fol's sounding device, a 'bathometer', relying on pressure induced flow of mercury from a lower chamber to an

upper chamber to record the maximum depth of exposure in seawater; the image is from his re-description of

the device (Fol 1877i). The drawing is by Louis Poyet. D. Fol's design of a closing net and a line of closing

nets to simultaneously sample the plankton of discrete depth strata (Fol 1891b).

The drawing is by Louis Poyet.

Conclusions

Hermann Fol is a sterling example of the polyvalence of the 19th century naturalist whose diversity

of interests contrasts so sharply with the extreme specialization of today's scientists. Trained as

physician, he was at first devoted to the study of the developmental biology of marine invertebrates,

then marine protists, followed by human embryology, then bacteriology, rabies, and finally studies of

light penetration in seawater. With regard to the last topic, his curiosity led him to experience for

himself low light conditions using a diving suit, and he concluded that avoiding a predator required

only moving a short distance to become invisible (Fol 1890). Fol even wrote on economic matters,

proposing a taxation scheme to increase the fertility rate of France by fixing taxation rates as a function

of the number of dependents of a taxpayer (Fol 1891c).

One might say that he was of an era when 'one could know everything'. For example, the

biographies of the British naturalist Robert Young (1773-1829), and the American naturalist Joseph

Leidy (1823-1891) are actually both entitled 'The Last Man Who Knew Everything' (Warren 1998;

Robinson 2006). However, what is notable is that naturalists in the time of Fol can be said to have been

interested in everything, and entered new fields without hesitation. However, while Fol was talented,

and with wide-ranging interests, unfortunately, he was also contentious. His personality was apparently

a factor in his leaving Haeckel's group in the University of Jena, his loss of his position at the

University of Geneva, his eviction from the Villefranche laboratory, and perhaps a factor in his

disappearance.

Fol was very well-known in his time but when he disappeared at age 47, in 1892 he left behind no

students nor a network of collaborators. He nearly invariably published alone. What he did leave

behind was a number of people that he had accused of various errors or misrepresentations, and among

them were figures of authority well into the 20th century. The anonymity of Fol today is likely due, on

one hand, to the fact that he worked on a very wide variety of topics, producing a substantial body of

work only in developmental biology, and on the other hand, because of his attacks over perceived

slights, he left behind few people who worked in the domains he studied, inclined to acknowledge his

contributions.

Acknowledgements

The comments of the anonymous reviewers, and Christian Sardet, on a previous version of the

manuscript led to significant improvements.

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Archival resources: Correspondence of Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers

Hermann Fol letters

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Alien Archaeology in science fiction cinema

Cinéma et archéologie extraterrestre

Olivier Planchon 1 , Christophe Thomazo 1,2 , Pierre Pouzet 3 , Cécile Allinne 4

1

Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, 21000 Dijon, France

2

Institut Universitaire de France

3

LabISEN-KlaIM, ISEN Yncrea Ouest, 44700 Carquefou, France

4

Université de Caen Normandie, CRAHAM, UMR 6273, 14000 Caen, France

ABSTRACT. Some scenarios of science fiction films, episodes of television series, or documentaries are based on and,

or develop the theme of extraterrestrial civilizations’ research and discovery and their various consequences. The present

study discusses their likelihood and implausibility by reviewing facts versus fiction in movies and television series. Some

selected films were classified into two categories, depending on the location of the fictional discoveries of the remains of

extraterrestrial civilizations: on Earth or other planets. Results highlight that while fiction movies are often inspired by

controversial ufological theories such as that of ancient astronauts, some of them also emphasize scientific concern such

as the risk of biological contamination.

KEYWORDS. Cinema, television series, science fiction, astrobiology, extraterrestrial civilizations, archaeology,

xenoarchaeology, pseudoarchaeology, ufological theories.

1. Introduction

Archaeology is often a pretext to dream of fabulous discoveries of treasures and lost ancient cities

(Alexandre-Bidon, 1986 & 2009; Auvertin, 2019). Jules Verne’s novel entitled Voyage au Centre de la

Terre and published in 1864, combining archaeology, geology, and paleontology, already presented all

the ingredients of a fantastic adventure whose success was revived in the cinema in the following

century. Jules Verne’s Voyage au Centre de la Terre has also been adapted several times to the cinema

(Journey to the Center of the Earth: Levin, 1959; Piquer Simón, 1976, Brevig, 2008). There is

confusion between archaeologists and explorers (Alexandre-Bidon, 1986 & 2009) highlighted in this

kind of film that oscillates between adventure and fantastic. The movie King Solomon's Mines directed

by Robert Stevenson (1937), followed by several subsequent adaptations, as well as the film series

Indiana Jones directed by Steven Spielberg (1981, 1984, 1989 & 2008) and James Mangold (2023),

and Tomb Raider directed by Simon West (2001), Jan de Bont (2003) and Roar Uthaug (2018), and

also, among the television series, Relic Hunter directed by Jay Firestone and Gil Grant (1999 to 2002),

are some examples of this timeless craze for archaeological treasure searches. In this kind of film and

television series, archaeologists, or tomb raiders, are intrepid explorers and adventurers of lost worlds,

more often in expeditions to fascinating and hostile exotic lands than in the offices, libraries, or

classrooms of their respective universities.

From adventure to fantastic, there is only one quick step toward science fiction (Bozzetto, 1990).

For example, the film Atlantis the Lost Continent, directed by George Pal (1961), showed the ancient

Atlantean civilization with very advanced and futuristic technologies. Some filmmakers use the theme

of time travel to stage archaeological activities and discoveries in the future. The two films The Time

Machine directed by George Pal (1960) and Planet of the Apes directed by Franklin Schaffner (1968)

have staged time travelers projected into the distant future and discovering the remains of our

contemporary (Planet of the Apes) or future (The Time Machine) civilization. The films Planet of the

Apes and The Time Machine were adapted from novels from different times (The Time Machine: An

Invention by Herbert George Wells, 1895; La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle, 1963), which the

context of the Cold War brought together. Nuclear war scenarios were in vogue in post-apocalyptic

films of the 1960s, while since the early 2000s, climate pessimism has become a cinematographic

object reflecting some anxieties of today’s society (Planchon et al., 2022). In the film Planet of the


Apes, the archaeologist whose excavations allow us to discover the remains of our contemporary

civilization is a chimpanzee (called Cornelius). At the end of the film Artificial Intelligence: A.I.

directed by Steven Spielberg (2001), extraterrestrial archaeologists discover, buried under the ice, the

remains of human civilization (New York City) extinct for 2000 years following climate change.

Already before the Second World War, science fiction literature combined exoticism and adventure

of archaeological expeditions in search of lost civilizations with the search and discovery of

extraterrestrial civilizations (Isto, 2019). The context of the rise of science fiction cinema during the

second half of the 20 th century, and the fascination for the ruins of extinct civilizations (Habib, 2011)

and for ufology (Méheust, 1978) found themselves in some scenarios showing discoveries of remains

of alien civilizations. Since the discovery and confirmation of the first exoplanet (Mayor & Queloz,

1995), more than 5,000 other exoplanets have been detected and confirmed (NASA Exoplanet

Archive: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu), but there is currently no evidence of the existence

of present or past life forms elsewhere than on Earth. New discoveries and expanding knowledge in

astronomy has also fostered debates and research on extraterrestrial life (e.g., see the activities of the

SETI Institute: https://www.seti.org/) and revived the sources of inspiration of science fiction cinema.

In this contribution, we used as materials 11 films, episodes of television series, or documentaries,

whose scenarios develop the theme of research and discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations and their

various consequences, to discuss their pertinency concerning the current knowledge in astrobiology.

The historical context of specific theories on which the scenarios of these films are more or less freely

based, will be clarified by relying on some connected examples of films and literary works. This article

is structured around two main parts: the first is dedicated to the discoveries of the remains of

extraterrestrial civilizations on Earth, and the second is dedicated to xenoarchaeology, i.e., the

discovery of remains of alien civilizations on other planets and their moons.

2. Facts and Harms of Ancient Astronauts on Earth

2.1. Ancient Astronauts and Cinema

Films relating to the discovery of remains of civilizations of extraterrestrial origin are mainly

inspired by the theory of ancient astronauts, developed in the 1960s (Pauwels & Bergier, 1960;

Charroux, 1962; Sendy, 1969) and popularized by Erich von Däniken (1968). The pseudo-scientific

documentary (or rather science fiction) television series entitled Ancient Aliens, broadcast since 2009

in the USA, deals with the theory of ancient astronauts (François, 2019). The ufological approach

developed in this documentary and, therefore, in the theory of ancient astronauts is based on a

somewhat religious belief (Cook, 1999; Jüdt, 2003; Richter, 2012) that extraterrestrial visitors have

reportedly transmitted scientific and technical knowledge to several prehistoric and ancient

civilizations (Stoczkowski, 1999; Le Quellec, 2009; Richter, 2017). Ancient Egypt, with its culture

among the oldest in the world and its impressive architectural remains, has attracted the interest of

Erich von Däniken and the proponents of the theory of ancient astronauts (Richter, 2012 & 2015), and

hence of adventure cinema, archaeology fiction and science fiction (Stoczkowski, 1999; Hiscock,

2012; Fritze, 2016; Bièvre-Perrin, 2019). Ancient Egypt as a place of contact between humanity and

ancient astronauts, has inspired, for example, the scenario of the film Stargate directed by Roland

Emmerich (1994), and the scenario of the film The Fifth Element directed by Luc Besson (1997). The

film Stargate is based on the discovery in Egypt, in 1928 in Giza (the site of the great pyramids and the

sphinx), of a mysterious ring nearly seven meters in diameter and made of an unknown metal

(Figure 1).


Figure 1. Discovery of the Stargate in 1928 in Giza (Egypt). Image from the film Stargate, directed by Roland

Emmerich, production companies: Canal+, Centropolis Film Productions, and Carolco Pictures,

countries: USA and France, 1994.

This ring proved to be a stargate, i.e., an interplanetary transport device (portal) engineered about

sixty million years ago by an alien civilization called the Ancients. A stargate creates a wormhole,

allowing them to travel quickly between two space-time points, from one door to another. A wormhole

is still a hypothetical object whose existence was suggested by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen

(Einstein & Rosen, 1935). Some explanatory details can be read in e.g., Taillet et al. (2008). The

concept of wormholes, although theoretical, is widely used in science fiction (literature, comics,

cinema, and television series) to allow travel in space and in time. Science fiction allowed to

popularize this complex concept of theoretical physics to a non-scientific audience, but with

pseudoscientific views (Matos, 2007; Nahin, 1999 and 2016).

2.2. Myth of Atlantis and Ancient Astronauts

The origin of the myth of Atlantis (ancient Greek: Άτλαντίς/Atlantís) is a set of two philosophical

accounts of Plato (428-348 B.C.), the Dialogues including the Critias and the Timaeus: see e.g., the

translations by D. Horan (2021). The Dialogues set out how Athens stopped the belligerent

expansionism of the people from Atlantis, an island that Plato located beyond the Columns of

Hercules. After the victory of Athens against the Atlanteans, a cataclysm caused by Zeus engulfed

Atlantis in the ocean that still bears its name today.

Rediscovered in the Western world during the Renaissance, the myth of Atlantis has been the

subject of the most diverse theories and speculations (Vidal-Naquet, 2005), including its hypothetical

location (Kieffer, 2004). Most publications admit that the myth of Atlantis is a fable of Plato, therefore,

purely fictional (Gill, 1977 and 1979; Naddaf, 1994; Kieffer, 2004; Nesselrath, 2002; Leveau, 2005;

Vidal-Naquet, 2005). The interpretation of Plato’s story of Atlantis based on real events by some

authors is, therefore, in this sense, a pseudoarchaeological approach (Collina-Girard, 2009). As a

source of inspiration, Atlantis has become and remains a theme widely treated in art, literature, cinema,

or video games, in the genres of fantastic, peplum, and, or science fiction (Winch, 2012). The myth of

Atlantis was also revisited by the theoreticians of ancient astronauts (Richter, 2015). The film

Warlords of Atlantis, released in 1978, while retaining a classic localization of the sunken city in the

Atlantic Ocean, refers to this theory by proposing an extraterrestrial origin to the Atlantean.


a) b)

Figure 2. Images from the film Warlords of Atlantis, directed by Kevin Connor, production companies:

Columbia Pictures and EMI Productions, country: United Kingdom, 1978.

a) Discovery of the golden statue on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

b) Queen Atsil and Atraxon in the hall of the Atlantean city of Vaar.

In 1896, Professor Aitken and his son Charles, British archaeologists, on an expedition on an

American ship, discovered a gold statue at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (Figure 2a) that pointed to

the entrance of an underwater gallery leading to the remains of Vaar, one of the seven cities of Atlantis

having not been completely engulfed in the ocean and still occupied by the descendants of a

mysterious people. Queen Atsil, accompanied by Atraxon, member of the ruling class of Vaar (Figure

2b), explained to Charles Aitken that his ancestors had to leave their home planet, Mars, following the

fall of a meteorite that caused a global disaster and made their world uninhabitable. The origin of

Atlantis and its inhabitants, as described in the film Warlords of Atlantis, recalls some

pseudoarchaeological theories claiming to attribute an ancient extraterrestrial origin to an alleged lost

pre-flood global civilization called Atlantis (Dobson, 2017; Stoczkowski, 2022). It is helpful to recall,

in this context, that the film "Warlords of Atlantis" was released one year after the science fiction film

Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) directed by George Lucas

(released on 25 May 1977) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind directed by Steven Spielberg

(released on 16 November 1977).

2.3. Ancient Civilizations and Ufological Myths

Myths and legends about the lost pre-Columbian civilizations go back to the Spanish Conquistadors,

in the 16 th century, in search of the Golden Cities (or Seven Cities of Cíbola: Locke, 2001; Lucena

Giraldo, 2006) and the Eldorado (Bennassar, 2007). Imagination developed around lost pre-Columbian

cultures has been at the heart of many science fiction stories since the late 1960s (Auvertin, 2019). The

fictional city of Akator (Figure 3a), which is the research goal of Pr. Jones in the film Indiana Jones

and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is inspired by these legends and by the mythological ancient city

of Akakor, described by German journalist Karl Brugger (1976) and allegedly located somewhere

between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. Details of the film, such as the disappearance of Pr. Oxley, recall

the disappearance in Brazil in 1925 of Percival Harrison Fawcett during an expedition in search of a

mysterious lost city. The story of this expedition was the subject of a novel (Grann, 2009) and a film

(Gray, 2016) entitled The Lost City of Z.


a) b)

Figure 3. Images from the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, directed by Steven

Spielberg, production companies: Lucasfilm Ltd., The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and Paramount Pictures,

country: USA, 2008.

a) Remains of the city of Akator.

b) Alien crystal skeletons inside the Akator City Temple.

Since the Spanish conquest, other myths have been added to the initial quest for gold. Some of them

are mentioned in the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

- 19 th -century fake of the Crystal skulls (Figure 3b; Sax et al., 2008; Walsh, 2008),

- Roswell affair in 1947 and Area 51 associated with him in UFO theories (Darlington, 1998; Patton,

P., 1998; Jacobsen, A., 2011),

- the geoglyphs of Nazca, objects of various controversial and fanciful theories also (Nickell, 1983).

The film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ends in apotheosis with the spectacular

take-off of a Chariot of the Gods dear to Erich von Däniken and the defenders of the theory of ancient

astronauts, without knowing the causes of the abandonment of the city in an undetermined past.

The remains of lost civilizations and cities discovered across the Americas (e.g., Olmec

civilization/Mexico in 1862: Soustelle, 1979; cities of Caral/Peru in 1948-49: Kosok, 1965; and Ciudad

Perdida/Colombia in 1972: Soto-Holguín, 1976), much later than those of the Old World, fed the most

fanciful theories, such as the hoax of the Ica stones (Feder, 2010). The hoax of the Ica stones is a set of

15,000 engraved pebbles discovered in Ica (Peru), in the 1960s. Engravings depict ancient Native

American populations of the region in the company of dinosaurs, performing heart transplants and

other complex surgical procedures, or observing the sky with telescopes (Coppens, 2001; Carroll,

2003). Despite evidence of a hoax (the stones were engraved using a dental drill: Feder, 2010), these

stones have been a great success within the creationist communities (e.g., cohabitation between

humans and dinosaurs) and ufologists defenders of the theory of ancient astronauts (Charroux, 1974:

extinct civilization, technologically very advanced and anterior to the present humanity), Coppens

(2001), Carroll (2003). Why and how did this so-called extraordinarily advanced civilization

disappear? Defenders of the theory of ancient astronauts claim the following answer: thanks to their

astronomical knowledge and observations, they saw the arrival of the asteroid that ended the

Cretaceous era of dinosaurs. They left Earth before the impact, leaving as memories of their

civilization only the engraved pebbles of Ica and the geoglyphs indicating the location of the so-called

spaceport of Nazca (Coppens, 2001)!

It seems complicated to believe that such an advanced civilization could have left only stones

engraved as proof of its past existence. G. Schmidt and A. Frank (2019) wondered what traces could

have left an industrialized civilization that existed 55 million years ago. G. Schmidt and A. Frank

(2019) showed a low probability of finding direct and material evidence, such as technological

artifacts, of such an ancient industrialized civilization. On the other hand, it would be more likely to

find indirect evidence, such as anomalies in sedimentary chemical composition or isotopic ratios.


Combustion of fossil fuels changes the isotopic ratios of carbon and oxygen in surficial reservoirs,

which leaves an imprint in the geological archives. Possible evidence of vanished advanced

civilizations could include plastics and residues of nuclear waste buried deep underground or in

seafloor sediments.

In the continuity of the film Stargate, the television series Stargate SG-1 show the discovery, buried

under the Antarctic ice sheet, of the remains of an outpost built by the Ancients and abandoned for five

or six million years following an epidemic (Stargate SG-1, Season 7 and Episode 22: Lost City).

According to G. Schmidt and A. Frank (2019), it is doubtful that an installation such as the Ancient

Antarctic base could have been discovered intact after abandonment of five or six million years!

Given the erosion and tectonic activity, which would have removed any visible trace of advanced

civilizations so ancient on Earth, the preservation of artifacts would therefore be, from this point of

view, theoretically more conceivable on other celestial bodies with reduced geological surficial activity

such as the Moon or Mars.

2.4. Alien Contact and Biological Hazards

The film The Thing, which is as much about science fiction as it is about horror films, offers a more

original reflection on the theory of ancient astronauts by highlighting the theme of contact with an

unknown extraterrestrial life form and in total rupture with the anthropomorphism characteristic of the

films previously mentioned. The scenario of this film is based on the discovery, made by scientists at a

Norwegian base and then rediscovered by American scientists (Figure 4a), of the wreckage of a

spaceship buried under Antarctic ice for at least 100,000 years (based on the thickness of the ice layer

above it).

a) b)

Figure 4. Images from the film The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, production companies: Universal

Pictures and Turman-Foster Company, country: USA, 1982.

a) The spaceship discovered in Antarctica.

b) The alien creature in one of its forms.

The archives left by the Norwegian team suggest that when this spaceship crashed on Earth, one of

its occupants was ejected outside the spaceship. The thing, so-called, was extracted from the ice by the

Norwegian researchers and became the vector of rapid contamination (by simple contact) by a parasite

of extraterrestrial origin (Figure 4b). The Thing was the remake of a 1951 film (The Thing from

Another World, directed by Christian Nyby), both adapted from a novel by American science fiction

writer John W. Campbell, entitled Who Goes There? and published in 1938. These films and this novel

were presumably and strongly inspired by Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s novel At the Mountains of

Madness, published in 1936. The scenario of The Thing highlighted, beyond the extraordinary

discovery of technological remains of extraterrestrial visitors, the biological risks incurred by contact

with a species of unknown origin arising from a distant past. Biological risks, as well as the lack of

precautions when handling contaminated alien organic remains, are also developed in scenarios of

other films that we will discuss in the next chapter devoted to xenoarchaeology: Alien and Prometheus.

Related to the scenario of The Thing, the theme of an intelligent alien life form hibernating in Antarctic

ice and carrying a parasite or virus that infects its human discoverers has been developed in the


television series Stargate SG-1 (Season 6 and Episode 4: Frozen). The mysteries of Antarctica and

what might be hidden under its ice sheet are also discussed in some episodes of the television series

The X-Files and Ancient Aliens.

According to L.A. Yarzábal et al. (2021), ice sheet melt and permafrost thaw induced by global

warming could release pathogenic microorganisms, and expose human population to a risk of

biological contamination. Regarding pathogens of extraterrestrial origin, the risk of biological

contamination is taken very seriously by organizations such as NASA and ESA for all space missions

(Glavin et al., 2004 & 2010; Zorzano et al., 2023). The main kind of risks identified are the

contamination from Earth on other planets (including their possible moons), as well as contamination

of extraterrestrial origin upon return from certain missions, for example, in anticipation of future return

missions to Mars. Some science fiction authors did not wait for the beginnings of space exploration,

starting in the middle of the 20 th century, to approach and develop the theme of biological

contamination. For example, H.G. Wells, in his novel The War of the Worlds published in 1898,

explained how Martian invaders were exterminated by pathogenic germs present on Earth, and against

which they were not immune. Despite differences between the novel by H.G. Wells and the film

directed by Byron Haskin in 1953, the sudden end of the Martian invasion due to biological

contamination has been reproduced.

This theme was also shown as biological contamination of extraterrestrial origin, for example, in the

movie Life directed by Daniel Espinosa (2017). The film Life showed the awakening of a

microorganism taken from the Martian regolith that contaminates a whole crew of astronauts back to

Earth. As mentioned in twelve episodes of the television series The X-Files, the black oil would have

been introduced on primitive Earth during the cosmic impacts of the Late Heavy Bombardment, which

would have occurred about four billion years ago (Bottke & Norman, 2017). The black oil scenario is

based on panspermia, which is the speculative hypothesis of the transfer of living organisms through

space (Horneck et al., 2001) and, or from one planet to another (Mileikowsky et al., 2000), made

possible, according to this hypothesis, by cosmic impacts (Nicholson, 2009). Greek Ionian philosopher

Anaxagoras first evoked the theory of panspermia (from ancient Greek πανσπερμία / panspermia) in

the fifth century BC (O’Leary, 2008). Lord Kelvin relaunched this hypothesis in 1871 in a

communication to the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Thomson, 1871). British

physicist Lord Kelvin proposed the hypothesis that when small celestial bodies hit the surface of a

planet where life could have developed, some living organisms may have been trapped in the core of

ejecta propelled into space and eventually landed on Earth inside meteorites (see also the study of the

Martian meteorite ALH84001: McKay, 1996). Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius (1903 & 1908)

suggested the hypothesis of the propagation of life forms (e.g., spores) from planet to planet driven by

the blast of light from stars and carried by meteorites and interstellar dust. Other authors have taken up

this theory since the 1960s (Crick & Orgel, 1973; Hoyle et al., 1986; Cockell, 2011). Expose project

recently aimed to assess the survival rate of biological samples to test some of the hypotheses of

panspermia theory (Horneck & Zell, 2012).

3. Xenoarchaeology: Searching for lost Extraterrestrial Civilizations

Xenoarchaeology or interstellar/extraterrestrial/cosmic archaeology involves searching for material

traces of extinct extraterrestrial civilizations (Carrigan, 2010 & 2012). NASA and SETI Institute

seriously considered the search for relics or remains of such cultures, one of the orientations of their

research programs (Vakoch, 2014). The discovery of remains of extraterrestrial civilizations on other

planets and their moons has already fuelled the scripts of many science fiction films since the middle

of the 20 th century, even before the beginning of space exploration (Forbidden Planet in 1956). The

causes of the disappearances of these fictional civilizations and the often dangerous consequences of

the discoveries of their remains are often projections, on other worlds, of the many dangers that

threaten the human species, such as climate change.


3.1. Mythical Red Planet

In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed on the surface of Mars what he

described as channels (Schiaparelli, 1882), improperly translated (in Italian: canali, already mentioned

in 1858 by astronomer Pietro Angelo Secchi) by canals. These observations, linked to an erroneous

interpretation of observations still imprecise at that time, very quickly convinced some authors of their

artificial character and, therefore, of the possible presence of a Martian civilization (Flammarion, 1892;

Lowell, 1895). Science fiction literature quickly followed scientific debates in an already prolific era in

this field (e.g., Jules Verne and Herbert George Wells). The novel The War of the Worlds written by

H.G. Wells (1898) is an example. Although the hypothesis of Martian canals was definitively

discarded from the beginning of the 20th century (Evans and Maunder, 1903; Wallace, 1907;

Antoniadi, 1909), literature and then science fiction cinema continued to picture Martian civilizations,

for example in literature (Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles, 1950). Some photographs taken by

the Viking I and II probes during their flyby of March between 1976 and 1980 have later revived

speculations on a so-called Martian civilization and brought up-to-date Martian science fiction in

cinema from an archaeological perspective.

The film Mission to Mars refers to the face of Mars, a Martian relief called Cydonia Mensae,

photographed by the orbiter Viking I on 25 July 1976.

a) b)

Figure 5. Images from Mission to Mars, directed by Brian De Palma, production companies: Touchstone

Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, The Jacobson Company, and Red Horizon Productions,

country: USA, 2000.

a) Landscape view of the face of Mars.

b) Inside the face of Mars: holographic representation of the take-off and flight of Martian spaceships after

the impact event.

In the film Mission to Mars, the face (Figure 5a) is a sanctuary that contains the archives of an

ancient Martian civilization that has disappeared. The group of astronauts who manage to enter there

discovers the history of this civilization through a holographic presentation and learn that the red planet

was habitable and inhabited until the cataclysmic fall of a meteorite that forced the survivors to migrate

to a distant destination outside the Solar System (Figure 5b), except for one ship that left for Earth.

Mission to Mars therefore seems to give us explanations to understand the scenario of the film

Warlords of Atlantis! The evocation of a face in the photograph taken by the Viking I probe in 1976

became the object of countless theories and speculations on the possible artificial character of this

formation (Grossinger, 1986; Carlotto, 1988) and, by extension, evidence of a long-extinct Martian

civilization (Hatcher Childress, 2000; Hoagland, 2001). Pyramid-shaped rock formations in the same

Martian region of Cydonia may have suggested the existence of monumental remains of a large ancient

city (DiPietro et al., 1988; Hatcher Childress, 2000; Hoagland, 2001; Haas et al., 2017). The Martian

pyramidal rock formations were used as the setting for the film Total Recall directed by Paul

Verhoeven (1990): Figure 6a.


a) b)

Figure 6. Remains on the planet Mars of a long-extinct alien civilization. Images from the film Total Recall,

directed by Paul Verhoeven, production company: Carolco Pictures, country: USA, 1990.

a) Landscape view of the Pyramid Mountain.

b) The powerplant built by the lost alien civilization inside Pyramid Mountain.

In the context of human colonization of Mars, the excavation of galleries under Pyramid Mountain

gave access to a gigantic powerplant (Figure 6b) built by an alien civilization that disappeared from the

planet several hundred thousand years ago and whose activation is intended to transform the Martian

ice cap into a breathable atmosphere for all. Although this very advanced technology is half a million

years old, it is still usable and put into operation successfully. This is, therefore, a very similar theme to

that of the films Stargate and Forbidden Planet; see later in this contribution. More recent and better

quality (higher resolution) photographs of the so-called face of Mars, taken on 5 April 1998 and 8

April 2001 by the Mars Global Surveyor probe, showed that it was only an eroded hill (mesa: Guest et

al., 1977; Pieri, 1999) whose shading effects could, by pareidolia, evoke a face (NASA, 2001). Erosion

is also responsible for pyramid-shaped structures (Kite et al., 2016).

Our closest neighbor, the Moon, was also concerned by the dream of discovering the remains of an

ancient lost alien civilization. One of the most spectacular examples is the Apollo 20 hoax. The Apollo

20 Hoax is a fake made by a series of videos released in 2007 about a so-called joint lunar mission

between the United States and the former USSR, launched in 1976 that reportedly discovered the

remains of an alien civilization on the dark side of the Moon (Johnson, 2007). This hoax is based on

photographs taken by the astronauts of the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 while they were orbiting the

Moon (photos archived on the website Lunar and Planetary Institute: Apollo 15 Mission, photos of

Delporte area). These photographs were faked using photo-manipulations to reveal a spaceship of

unknown origin, more than three kilometers long and supposedly 1.5 billion years old, the ruins of an

abandoned city, and the body of a 26,000-year-old hibernating alien woman (Johnson, 2007). The

immediate success of this hoax comes from the broadcast of videos on YouTube and probably also

from the temptation to believe in it!

3.2. New Horizons? Exoplanetary Archaeology

The first exoplanet (51 Pegasi b) was discovered and confirmed at the end of the 20th century

(Mayor & Queloz, 1995). Still, some Greek philosophers and scholars of antiquity had already sensed

its existence. Democritus (c. 460-370 BC) seemed to have already been convinced of the plurality of

worlds (Mugler, 1953). Epicurus (342/341-270 BC) wrote in his Letter to Herodotus: It is not only the

number of atoms, it is the number of worlds that is infinite in the Universe. There are an infinite

number of worlds similar to ours and an infinite number of different worlds (Hamelin, 1910; Conche,

1992; Vauclair, 2016; de Peretti, 2019). The Greek astronomer and mathematician Aristarchus of

Samos (c. 310-230 BC) assumed that the stars, given their remoteness and following his thesis of the

infinity of the universe, were comparable to our sun (Meyerhof, 1942; Comité de Sauvegarde des Sites

de Meudon, 2019). Some of these documentary sources and ideas of antiquity are again disseminated


in Renaissance Europe. The Dominican monk Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) wrote, in his work entitled

(in Italian) De l'infinito, universo e Mondi/ (English translation) Of the infinite, the universe and the

worlds and published in 1584, that Every star is a sun like ours, and around each of them are other

planets, invisible to us, but existing. Giordano Bruno went even further in his reasoning, stating that

these worlds are not only inhabited but their inhabitants are perhaps similar and even superior to us (de

Peretti, 2019; Arnould, 2021).

Science fiction cinema did not wait for the first detections of exoplanets to implement their stories,

as exemplified by the film Stargate and its sequels in the form of the television series Stargate SG-1

and Stargate Atlantis. It is in the first place remains discovered on Earth that allows finding the

extrasolar origin of their builders. Among the most classical sources discussed in the theory of ancient

astronauts are, as already seen in chapter 2., Egyptian antiquity and the myth of Atlantis (Figure 7).

a) b)

c) d)

Figure 7. Archaeological discoveries on the fictional exoplanets Abydos and Lantia.

a) Pyramid, pylon, and obelisks on the planet Abydos. Images from the film Stargate, directed by Roland

Emmerich, production companies: Canal+, Centropolis Film Productions, and Carolco Pictures, countries:

USA and France, 1994.

b) Pylon of the temple of Horus in Edfu (Egypt). Source of the photograph: Depositphotos

(https://fr.depositphotos.com/).

c) The city of Atlantis rises from the ocean on the planet Lantia. Image from the television series Stargate

Atlantis (Season 1 and Episode 1: Rising), directed by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, production

companies: Acme Shark Productions, MGM Worldwide Television Distribution, and Sony Pictures Television,

countries: Canada and USA, 2004-2009.

d) View of Mingo City on the planet Mongo. Image from the comic strip Flash Gordon (Raymond, 1937), New

York: King Features Syndicate, Inc.

In the film Stargate, the monumental complex discovered on the planet Abydos (Figure 7a) is

directly inspired by the architecture of ancient Egypt (pyramid, pylon, and obelisk: see Figure 7b in

Edfou). The name Abydos is itself borrowed from ancient Egypt, since it is the Greek name of one of

its oldest cities (Archaeological evidence from the Predynastic period: 4th Millennium BC; see

https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/abydos/1-histoire-et-mythe/). On the other hand, the city of

Atlantis, rising from the ocean of the planet Lantia (Figure 7c) after having been intentionally engulfed


10000 years ago by the Ancients, seems straight out of a sheet of the comic strip Flash Gordon 1930s

(Figure 7d) rather than the imagination of Plato.

While the film Stargate and its derivative television series show the discovery of the existence of

extraterrestrial civilizations on extrasolar planets from their remains left on Earth, the movie Forbidden

Planet imagine the discovery of xenoarchaeological remains directly on a distant planet, and without

any connection with ancient cultures and mythologies on Earth. Forbidden Planet is a 1956 film whose

scenario suggests that space travel to extrasolar systems will be made possible within three centuries

by using spaceships capable of moving at the speed of light.

a) b)

Figure 8. Images from Forbidden Planet, directed by Fred M. Wilcox, production company: Metro-Goldwyn-

Mayer, country: USA, 1956.

a) The Krell laboratory.

b) The monster from the Id.

In the 23rd century, a scientific expedition discovered on the exoplanet Altair IV the remains of an

ancient, technologically advanced (Figure 8a) alien civilization: the Krells, who suddenly disappeared

more than 200,000 years ago. The Krells built a gigantic underground powerplant whose reactor was

powered by the energy emitted by the core of the planet. This installation still works, but the

extraordinary technological advance of the Krells caused their loss. The gigantic powerplant allowed

the Krells to materialize and project anything imaginable anywhere, including the monsters from the

Id, their darkest subconscious (Figure 8b). Such a scenario can be compared to that of the film Sphere,

directed by Barry Levinson and released in 1998: the mysterious sphere of unknown origin reported on

Earth by an American spaceship of exploration materializes all wishes but also all fears and

nightmares.

The scenario of the film Forbidden Planet thus presents some common traits with that of Total

Recall, with the discovery of a giant machine built by a lost extraterrestrial civilization that disappeared

for several hundreds of thousands of years. In the film Alien and its prequel Prometheus, a

xenoarchaeological discovery is the context to show the potential danger from contact with unknown

life forms. The scenario of the film Alien is very similar to that of The Thing: a horrific science fiction,

the discovery of a spaceship of unknown origin and abandoned for thousands of years, and the

discovery of a strange and dangerous parasitic life.


a) b)

c) d)

Figure 9. Images from the film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, production companies: Brandywine Productions

and 20th Century Fox, countries: USA and United Kingdom, 1979.

a) Landscape view of the abandoned alien spaceship on the exomoon LV-426.

b) Discovery of the alien skeleton inside the alien spaceship.

c) Large room lined with eggs inside the alien spaceship.

d) Alien egg opening in front of Executive Officer Kane.

In 2122, the space cargo Nostromo, back to Earth, receives a radio signal emitted from an exomoon

(LV-426) located in the binary system of Zeta Reticuli, 39.5 light-years from Earth. Searching for the

signal source on the surface of LV-426, three crew members discover the wreckage of an alien

spaceship (Figure 9a), inside which they first discover a strange alien skeleton (Figure 9b) abandoned

here for thousands of years. Executive Officer Kane found a vast room with thousands of eggs (Figure

9c). Kane approaches one of them, which opens (Figure 9d) and suddenly throws a creature clinging to

his face (face-hugger). Violating a mandatory quarantine allows the introduction of the beast in the

Nostromo. This chain of unforeseen events, unfortunate decisions, and their catastrophic consequences

recall the scenario of the film The Thing, released only a few years after Alien.

The film Prometheus, conceived as a prequel to the film Alien, takes up the main issues of the latter:

xenoarchaeological discovery on an exoplanet and succession of unforeseen events leading to a

catastrophe for the crew of space explorers. Such as, in the film Stargate, the discovery of

archaeological remains on Earth allows us discovering the remains of an alien civilization inhabiting

an exoplanet. In 2093, the Prometheus spacecraft led a scientific expedition to the Zeta Reticuli system

to confirm the hypothesis of contact with extraterrestrial visitors on earth at different times of

prehistory and antiquity (cf ancient astronauts). Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway

called these aliens Engineers because they would have intervened in the evolution of the human

species. The scenario of this film recalls the novel The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt (1994), in

which a spaceship of scientific exploration is sent to planets housing the archaeological remains of an

extinct alien civilization, the Monument-Makers.


a) b)

Figure 10. Images from the film Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, production companies: Brandywine

Productions, Scott Free Productions, and Dune Entertainment, countries: USA and United Kingdom, 2012.

a) Landscape view of the archaeological site on LV-223: the enclosure and dome.

b) Inside the dome: view of the room of urns.

Arriving at the destination, after two years of travel, on the exomoon LV-223 (same planetary

system as LV-426), the crew discovered a vast artificial structure (Figure 10a) abandoned for 2000

years, according to archaeologists and buried over time by dust storms deposits. Inside a central dome,

the explorers discover a room with urns and a sculpture of a humanoid head (Figure 10b). As in the

Alien scenario, a succession of unforeseen events led this expedition to disaster. The urns contain a

black pathogenic liquid that infects and contaminates part of the crew and turns out to be a biological

weapon developed by the Engineers. The Engineers were victims of an accident during an

experimental phase of development of this biological weapon that had become out of control: It is, in

this sense, a scenario close to that of the extinction of the Krells in the film Forbidden Planet. The

black liquid also recalls the black oil of the television series X-Files. The discovery in 1996 of an

exoplanet in the Zeta Reticuli system somehow substantiated Ridley Scott’s movie. This discovery was

later retracted because the observed data were due to pulsations of the star (Todd, 2021). In any case,

the Zeta Reticuli system has been known to the UFO community since the 1960s, including the case of

the so-called kidnapping of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 and the conspiracy hoax of the Serpo

Project (Robin, 2009; Johnston, 2013).

Science fiction can also be the basis of popular science documentaries dealing with future

exploration of extrasolar systems. For example, in the four-part science documentary entitled (in

French) L’Odyssée Interstellaire/ (in English) The Interstellar Odyssey, released in 2019 by the

television channel Arte, scientific experts in the fields of exobiology, astronautics, engineering, and

physics have been interviewed to picture the construction of an interstellar spaceship driven by

artificial intelligence and the journey it could undertake towards the fictional exoplanet Minerva-B, in

the search for life forms detected during this century by the James-Webb or E-ELT telescopes.

Figure 11. Discovery of remains of a lost civilization on the fictional exoplanet Minerva-B: close view of the site

with petroglyphs. Image from the documentary film L’Odyssée Interstellaire (Episode 4 Premier Contact,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJlR5N37Mpw), directed by Vincent Amouroux and Alex Barry, production


companies: ZED, Essential Media & Entertainment, ARTE France, ABC (Australian Broadcasting

Corporation), and CuriosityStream, countries: Australia and France, 2019.

The spaceship, designed and manufactured in the second half of the 21st century, was put into orbit

in 2207 around Minerva-B, located about 4.5 light-years from the Solar System. It was chosen for this

expedition following the detection of biosignatures in its atmosphere. Minerva-B is a fictional planet

inspired by Proxima Centauri b, a planet of the closest extrasolar system (ca. 4.2 light-years) and

identified as potentially habitable (Anglada-Escudé et al., 2016). A drone fleet is exploring Minerva-B

under the guidance of artificial intelligence. After discovering increasingly complex life forms during

the exploration of the planet, the fourth and final episode (in French: Premier Contact/ in English:

First Contact) of the documentary film L’Odyssée Interstellaire ends with the vision of structures

identified as artificial but visibly abandoned, including possible traces of writing (Figure 11). Detecting

fossils in some geological strata also suggests the possibility of mass extinctions on Minerva-B. Like

its model Proxima Centauri (or Alpha Centauri C), the star Minerva is a red dwarf subjected to

powerful eruptions likely to destroy life on its host planets repeatedly (Davenport et al., 2016;

MacGregor et al., 2021).

4. Discussion and Conclusion

Cinema and television series have approached and developed the topic of the discovery of remains

or traces of extraterrestrial civilizations from an archaeological point of view. The list would, of

course, be much longer if we consider all the scenarios of direct encounters with extraterrestrial

civilizations. No concrete evidence, neither material nor archaeological in particular, has yet been able

to attest to the existence of such societies. Such lack of evidence for life elsewhere than on Earth and

its implication can be discussed from the perspectives of the Fermi paradox.

The Fermi paradox is the name given to a series of questions posed by the Italian physicist Enrico

Fermi in 1950 when he discussed with friends the possibility of extraterrestrial life and an alien visit

(Agelou et al., 2017). The main question can be summarized as follow: why humanity has so far found

no trace of extraterrestrial civilizations, while at the same time, the sun is younger than many stars in

our galaxy? According to E. Fermi, more advanced civilizations should have appeared among the older

planetary systems and left visible or detectable traces from Earth, such as probes, spaceships, or radio

waves. Michael H. Hart (1975) made several hypotheses to solve the paradox, classified into four

categories:

1. The probability of occurrence of a technologically advanced civilization may be very low;

2. If an extraterrestrial civilization exists, interstellar communication and travel are impossible or not

considered desirable;

3. Life may exist elsewhere, but in places that make it difficult to detect, for example, due to too long

distances or in oceans protected by an ice layer around hydrothermal vents (see e.g., Mann, 2017);

4. If aliens exist and may visit us, it might be in an undetectable way with current technical means.

For some authors, the paradox does not exist; for others, it is a dilemma or a problem of logic; for

others, finally, it is based on an anthropocentrism reasoning that apprehends reality through the biased

human perspective. The narrowness of this reasoning would prevent solving the question of

extraterrestrial life: see, for example, the review article by Kuiper & Brin (1989). Other approaches,

such as the theory of evolution (Ćirković, 2004; Kent, 2011; Smart, 2012), ecology (Haqq-Misra &

Baum, 2009) or computer simulation (Bezsudnov & Snarski’s, 2010), have broadened the basis for

reflection, but have also made it more complex (Ćirković, 2009). Yet, there is no consensus on a


solution to the Fermi paradox. Statistical tools such as the Drake equation have attempted to solve it

using mathematical expression.

The equation theorized by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 is systematically associated in the

literature with the Fermi paradox (Drake, 1961).

The Drake equation, recalled by the SETI Institute (https://www.seti.org/drake-equation-index) as

follows, is: N=R*.fp.ne.fl.fi.fc.L, where:

N = The number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are

detectable;

R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life (number per year);

fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems;

ne = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life;

fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life appears;

fi = The fraction of life-bearing worlds on which intelligent life emerges;

fc = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that produces detectable signs of their

existence;

L = The average time such civilizations produce such signs (in years).

Stephen Webb (2002) considered that the Fermi paradox, combined with the Drake equation, leads

to the conclusion that human civilization is most likely the only one in the galaxy. S. Webb noticed,

however, that this conclusion could stem from the low values assigned to specific variables in the

equation, such as the average length of time such civilizations produce signs of their existence (L).

Employing statistical methods (objective Bayesian analysis and uniform-rate process assumption) and

using the chronology of life’s appearance in the fossil record on Earth, D. Kipping (2020) showed that

abiogenesis is a rapid process compared to intelligence, whose emergence may be rare. If the

encounters are unlikely, the discovery of archaeological remains or traces of extraterrestrial

civilizations that disappeared for thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years or more, as suggested

in some science fiction films, should be more likely.

Human observation from Earth of hypothetical material traces of extraterrestrial civilizations

(known as technosignatures: Xiangyuan et al., 2023) could be megastructures visible from far away in

space, such as the Dyson spheres. These are hypothetical megastructures whose idea comes from the

science-fiction literature (Stapledon, 1937) and whose scientific description was proposed in 1960 by

the physicist and mathematician Freeman J. Dyson. This hypothetical astro engineering structure

would consist of a sphere of matter, artificial and hollow, located around a star and designed to capture

almost all its emitted energy emitted for industrial use.

These theories and hypotheses have been, in science fiction cinema, almost always approached with

the discovery of remains or traces of extraterrestrial civilizations. The scenario of film Artificial

Intelligence: A.I. directed by Steven Spielberg (2001), proposes a very original inverse story. In this

film, extraterrestrial archaeologists discover the remains of human civilization (New York City and the

skyscrapers of Manhattan) buried under ice. The story suggests that humanity went extinct due to

climate change, and then the Earth entered a new ice age. Behind science fiction, the story of this film

is essentially a warning against the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change (Planchon et al.,

2022).


The fertile imagination of the world of science fiction cinema in the field of discoveries of

extraterrestrial civilizations has abundantly adapted the most fanciful ufological theories such as

ancient astronauts. Distinguishing science from fiction in the scenarios of films and television series

also highlights some of the warnings concerning, for example, the risks of biological contamination

and specific technological threats. Although no life form has yet been discovered elsewhere than on

Earth, this makes some scenarios partially plausible. Indeed, science fiction is a powerful tool for

educational exploration of the risks that could weigh on the future of humanity (Rumpala, 2016;

Kammerbauer, 2019).

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ScienceArt Commune 1: Whirling with Waters

Alliance Art-Science 1 : Tourbillonner avec les Eaux

Joseph Tin Yum Wong 1

1

Division of Life science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

RÉSUMÉ. La plupart des dinoflagellés ont des cycles de vie complexes (figures 5, 12), comprenant des cellules d’essaims

libres, des formes coccoïdes non mobiles et des kystes au repos (figure 24,25). De nombreuses espèces présentent une

bioluminescence (« larmes bleues » figures 15-19) et une toxicité concomitante qui peut s’accumuler tout au long de la

chaîne alimentaire et se manifester par des syndromes d’intoxication humaine par les mollusques (Note 2). La plupart des

formes libres sont mixotrophes, avec la capacité de photosynthèse et de collecte de nourriture à partir de la lumière. Les

dinoflagellés symbiotiques forment une relation symbiotique avec les coraux ; l’arrêt des opérations bidirectionnelles

entraînera le blanchissement des coraux (figures 11-14) et la disparition de nos écosystèmes de récifs coralliens. Les

cellules de l’essaim de dinoflagellés ont des flagelles avec un mouvement tourbillonnant (grec = dino) (figures 1-4), et

peuvent effectuer une migration verticale entre différents plans d’eau pour accéder à une meilleure parcelle de nutriments.

De nombreuses espèces sont contre-intuitivement sensibles aux turbulences et ont tendance à s’agglomérer dans les eaux

stagnantes, ou comme dans le cas des dinoflagellés symbiotiques, à l’intérieur de leurs hôtes coralliens habituels. Les

vastes mers de « proliférations » de dinoflagellés se terminent souvent par des eaux peu profondes ou se transforment en

kystes « au repos » qui coulent dans les sédiments benthiques et attendent un meilleur moment ; l’expérience de la vie, de

la prolifération et du kyste des dinoflagellés est adoptée comme scénario dans cette « communion art-science. » Le thème

principal étant le soi-même et Adieu ma concubine (figure 6). Les individus d’une prolifération, malgré les apparences, ne

sont pas les mêmes, car les différentes parties du plan d’eau sont différentes. Certains sont plus près de la surface avec

une irradiation et exposition, d’autres sont masqués par la prolifération et font face au benthique avec une condition

anaérobie potentielle. La ou les moyennes mobiles sont composées de différents sois, les images exercées et préceptées

de soi, peut-être photo-acclimatées et changeant de composition photopigmentaire. Adieu con~combiner les différentes

étapes du cycle de vie, ce sont tous les mêmes dinoflagellés, avec des épigénétiques et des transcriptomes différents.

ABSTRACT. Most dinoflagellates have complex life cycles (figures 5, 12), comprising free swarmer cells, non-mobile

coccoid forms, and resting cysts (figures 24,25). Many species exhibit bioluminescence (’blue tears’ figures 15-19) and may

produce toxins that accumulate through the food chain, manifesting as shellfish poisoning syndromes (Note 2). Most freeliving

forms are mixotrophic, with capacity of photosynthesis and obtaining nutrients from their environment. Symbiotic

dinoflagellates form a symbiotic relationship with corals; cessation of the two-way operatives will lead to coral bleaching

(figures 11-14), and demise of our coral reef ecosystems. The dinoflagellate swarmer cells have two flagella which perform

a whirling movement (Greek = dino) (figures 1-4), enabling them to conduct vertical migration between different water

bodies to access better nutrient patches. Many species are counter-intuitively sensitive to turbulence, and tend to aggregate

in stagnant water, or as in the case of symbiotic dinoflagellates habituated inside their coral hosts. Vast 'blooms' of

dinoflagellates often end as waters shallow, or they transform into 'resting' cysts that sink to benthic sediments to await

more favourable conditions. This bloom-to-cyst life cycle is adopted as the storyline in this ScienceArt Commune, focusing

on the concept of 'self-one' and 'farewell my concubine' (figure 6). Individuals within a bloom (Figure 18), despite

appearances, are not identical, as different parts within the water body is different. Some cells are closer to the surface with

higher irradiance and exposure, while others are screened by the bloom and face potential anaerobic conditions near the

bottom. The moving average(s) are composed of different self-ones, as well as perceived self-images, perhaps photoacclimatised

and changing in photopigment composition. Fare-well con~combine the different life cycle stages, they are all

the same dinoflagellates, with different epigenetics and transcriptomes.

MOTS-CLÉS. ScienceArt, communication scientifique tertiaire, science inclusive, dinoflagellés, cycles de vie, soi-même,

adieu ma concubine, SciArt, Science and Arts.

KEYWORDS. ScienceArt, tertiary science communications, inclusive science, dinoflagellates, life cycles, self-ones, farewell

my concubine, SciArt, Science and Arts.

1. ScienceArt Permeation

Both science and art are acts of human creativity increasingly recognized as fundamental pillars of

our knowledge-based societies. Both will play essential roles in the advancement of humanity, especially

with the advent of climate change, food insecurity, and bio-insecurity – their fusion and resonance will

become increasingly important. Arts and Sciences are concerned with creative questioning, interpretation


and expression of our understandings through models. Both art and scienctific institutions require the

behold of traditions, while also embracing nonconforming, innovations, and paradigm shifts.

Increasingly, decisions are made in the context of sciences by non-scientists; basic science needs to

address its sustainability issues, especially considering the time lag between discovery and technological

applications. Scientific knowledge has accumulated rapidly in the last half century, often alienating the

public from the details of advancements. Fostering creative processes, very often when different fields

collide/intersect, in this case science and arts in a double reflection at high levels, is important but

challenging to integrate into modern educational curricula. Science-Art communications should aim not

only to enhance public understanding of basic sciences but also to foster an appreciation of the creative

process itself, especially empirical thinking from fundamental principles. I propose, with this example

“Whirling with Waters”, a focus field orientated ScienceArt Commune, an integrated platform featuring

multimedia arts, scientific narratives, as well as science and technology demonstrations. This represents

an advocacy for more inclusive science communication, complementing important science extensions at

primary and secondary levels. The ScienceArt Commune represents a new artform and a coherent form

of science communication, fostering more focused paradigms, potentially harnessed with scientific

society meetings, as well as all tertiary levels.

2. Dinoflagellate introduction

Dinoflagellates, infamous for forming intense bloom 1 , are single-celled aquatic organisms found in

most aquatic ecosystems. They function as both primary or secondary producers, participating in the

microbial loop that recycles dissolved organic matters to inorganic nutrients that can be utilized by other

euphotic phytoplanktons that do not have mixotrophic capacity. In temperate seas, dinoflagellates

blooms frequently occur after the Spring diatom blooms. They adapt by utilizing organic matter in

addition to photosynthesis (hence mixotrophic), often responding to patchy nutrient distributions,

including those from anthropogenic sources. This adaptation can lead to the discoloration of vast sea

areas, forming red tides or harmful algal blooms.

Dinoflagellates aggregate in stagnant waters, for instance along a pycnocline 2 between two water

bodies, at estuarine plumes, or within coastal wind-driven offshore upwelling systems. Some

dinoflagellates form symbiotic relationships with cnidarians and other invertebrates, giving rise to

spectacular coral reefs worldwide. There are approximately 2000-3000 species of dinoflagellates, with

remarkable variation in forms and nutritional modes, and multiple instances of photosynthesis loss

(Cooney et al 2024, Holt et al 2023, Janouškovec et al 2017). They are commonly micro-phytoplankton

(>20 µm), with some at nanoplankton (2–20 μm) dimensions.

Algae (a common lesser-used Latin word) are phylogenetically diverse; dinoflagellates are a sister

group to Apicomplexa, which include the malaria parasites, and ciliates (Gould et al 2006), which include

the Paramecium sp., with further phylogenetic distance to other algae (for instance brown and red algae).

The tandem repeats encoding of many dinoflagellate genes (Beauchemin et al 2012, Lin 2011), some

with proven infraspecific variation (Stephens et al 2020), likely harbours sufficient genetic variability

commonly believed to engage biological fitness. With up to thousands of copies per gene, for instance

of luciferin-binding protein in bioluminescent dinoflagellates (Valiadi & Iglesias-Rodriguez 2014), the

‘moving average’ of individualism as a gene assemblage defies computation estimates. The possible

permutations of self, incorporating past “concubine fare-welled” (pseudogenes), perhaps explain their

high resilience to extreme doses of ultraviolet C irradiation (Kwok et al 2022).

1

https://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/hkredtide/redtide.html, https://www2.whoi.edu/site/andersonlab/

2

Pycnocline: A layer of water with steep salinity change, often within two water bodies


Figure 1A. Whirling With The Flow Painting 1 (120 x 35 cm, ink-color on paper, 2023)

Artist concept 1: blue water coming and going, along with yellow moon(s) and red sun.

See the art concept in Figure 1bTwo moons in 24 hours. The turns (orange) interlude with forward troughs

(blue); the sun (red) intermittent with two moons (yellow). Artistic concept 2: The flash (gold) was drawn

amongst the fish dorsal fin with binary-like codes, with caudal fin out field. (fish head on the left)

Unlike other phytoplanktons that are passively flowing, many dinoflagellates perform diurnal migration through

water layers, accessing nutrients from deeper layers and photosynthesizing in upper layers during the day.

Dinoflagellate swarmer cells have two flagella, enabling them to conduct the distinctive whirling in waters.

ArtScience: Dinoflagellate swarmer cell has a circumpolar ribbon-like flagellum and a vertical longitudinal

flagellum, the circular movement of both resulting in the turning of the cell as well as a forward movement. The

circadian propensity of bioluminescence activation was likely attributed to nascent time-lag in photosynthetic

build-up. Under stress (agitation) many thecate dinoflagellates undergone ecdysis, involving the whole

amphiesmal shedding; this shares many signalling pathways with scintillans activation as both are mechanical

sensitive. This resource demanding process, which allows the cell to evade unfavourable conditions, cannot

be perpetually re-executed. Bioluminescence may have offered the cell an alternative ‘exit’ from the program,

the ecophysiology of which will be intertwined with the conversion to G0 state required for resting cyst.

Figure 1B. 1 to 2 2 . (original photo) The realization of me to non-me(s) further to the dragging-along feeling,

the reciprocal feeling, and the plurality in reciprocal me-images Is the internet provisioning that handles?


The 104 is a cross-harbour bus route rendezvous at the Pak Tin Public Transport Interchange (White Field).

In a bloom of unicellular organisms, there are many allelochemicals, through secretion or through cell lysis. For

instance, the bacterial molecule indole regulates various aspects of bacterial physiology, including spore

formation, plasmid stability, resistance to drugs, biofilm formation, and virulence

Figure 2. Whirling with Water, DriftWoodCutCraft, Natural Drift-bamboo root with Molluscan borer floatWood

~50 cm (2022), Borer holes are clearly seen. Oil-Cleaned unstained abalone shells with copper patina

Dino (Greek = whirling)

Dinoflagellates move forward through whirling, with action by the lateral and horizontal flagella

Figure 3. Whirling Tenacity of Engagement (Painting 2 ink and color on paper, ~ 35cm x 70 cm. 2023)

Art Concept1: unlike most other phytoplanktons, many dinoflagellates conduct diurnal vertical up-down

migration, seeking for a better patch of nutrients. Artistic concept 2: The ant face with two antennas (orange).

Pheromone signaling for tracing food. The soldiers, the workers, and the queen

Optimum Foraging Theory covering proportion of foraging effort and gain

(Hughes 1980, Tyson et al 2016)


Assuming fair competition with unlimiting resources, e.g. fair exchange rates to commodities

Chinese characters for human ( 人 ) and enter ( 入 ) and eight ( 八 ), The flow depicted in two ‘eight(s)’ with

alternate left-right hands in free style of swimming (Figure 2,4)

Blue and orange are respectively penultimate to the normal spectrum of colours, the moving average with

black and white normally excluded

Optimum Foraging Theory ASSUME

no slavery, colonization and controlled exchange rates

In the last half a century, average life expectancy rise, with general reduction of illiteracy.

"Mostly" fulfilling basic needs except ~828 ( https://doi.org/10.4060/cc6550en) millions

Figure 4. Whirling With Waters - A Good Run (Painting 3, 102 x 62 cm, ink-color on paper, 2021)

Art Concept 1: four seasons (the black line going downwards) and the year turning, the importance of frost in

the following year’s agricultural production.

Concept 2: the four seasons in life: child, youth, mid-age to old age, amid extension of life expectancy. The

front flaw (3rd -4th stage autumn), did it make a minute edge to the flow?? from parental influence per

education and experiences (summer dew) to perhaps finding your direction (autumn), notwithstanding the

rhyme of winter (with retrospectives). During the turn of each new year, it is believed that the legendary

monster 'Nian' ( 年 = year) must be driven away for good fortune. Retrospection is a distinct human trait that

enables us to build on prior experiences. Our continuous exploration of the past in prospecting for future

Science Concept: Many species can form dense bloom (10 3 cells/ml), going through initiation, proliferation,

aggregation, and further aggregation with water movement. Algal blooms disappear with waves and water

dispersal. art credit: http://www.yshk-art.com/pithy-detail-2872.html

3. Bloom and cysts through life-cycle transitions

Life cycle transitions (LSTs, see Fig. 2) are common operations in many protists. Dinoflagellates form

“resting cysts” through sexual reproduction that allow them to overwinter or survive unfavorable

conditions for extended periods. The dinoflagellate amphiesma (commonly referred to as the cell wall)


and its cortical membrane organelle with polysaccharide specializations are remodeled during different

stages of their life cycles. The most common remodeling process involves transformation into a resting

cyst with special polymers (dinosporin) that are resistant to harsh environmental conditions (Bogus et al

2012), allowing the population to ‘over-winter’. Cysts will germinate to form new blooms when the

conditions become favorable. Some dinoflagellates exhibit more complex life cycle transitions. For

instance, the phantom dinoflagellate Pfiesteria sp. can form an amoeboid stage and pass through the host

(a fish) body, causing hemorrhaging. Many dinoflagellates can also form ‘ecdysal cyst’ within minutes

of stressful environment and regenerate the cellulosic thecal plates immediately without transforming to

resting cysts (Kwok et al 2023a, Kwok et al 2023b).

Figure 4. Life Cycle Transitions are keys to dinoflagellate ecological phenomena

Blooming is not only cell proliferation, but also cell aggregation with water flow and stagnation. The transition

from motile to non-motile stages is important in algal bloom dynamics, coral re-‘infection’ with symbionts and

parasitic dinoflagellates (e.g. of oysters) in transmission.(Diaz & Figueroa 2023, Wong & Kwok 2005)

(Photomicrographs: photosynthetic Lingulodinium polyedra with cellulosic thecal plates (arrows,) shed during

ecdysis, swarmer cell stage ~20-30 µm; L. polyedra cells are bioluminescent

Symbiotic dinoflagellates are in coccoidal stage in hospice, and many invertebrate hosts can take up the

swarmer cells selectively, the mechanism of which is not fully known.

Diagrammatic illustration by Dr. Alvin C.M. Kwok (HKUST)

Please refer to figure 16 for cyst formation and symbiotic dinoflagellate life cycle figure 11.


Figure 6. Obsession with One-Selfs: Farewell my concubines

DriftWoodCraft1 (~ 40 x 15 cm) Float Tree trunk-root, natural incorporated black pebble, With copper pipe

patina crafted to a self-obsession poise.

With one cell, unicellular organisms have to make do to face the elements, with some of the harshest

environments. Imagine the intertidal zone, changing from freshwater rain to seawater in high tide, from snow in

winter to dessication during spring low tide. Their cell walls are their armour, but without the body mass to

capacitance changes in thermal regime. There are multiple life-cycle transition states in dinoflagellates, with up

to 24 being reported for the phantom dinoflagellate Pfiesteria sp., from free-living to amoeboid inside the fish

host during the parasitic stage. The concubine was me, farewell.

Encompassing from One to Self, and to an outside-mirrored Self. The opera legendary story ‘Farewell my

concubine’ storyline with the post-Chin dynasty fight between the future Han ( 汉 ) emporer Liu and the King

of the Chu State ( 楚国 ), with the final battle famously encircled with “Chu’ songs (by the Han army) to remind

them of homesick and fore-giving the will to fight. The King, a reknown general, fought to the last person.

NOTE 1 All artworks in the subchapter Farewell my concubines is in celebration of Leslie Cheung’s

Performance in Farewell My Concubine, awarded The Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

The top piece (copper pipe patina) was designed to dorsal-ventral

pathway of the brain, Awareness is modelled on balance between neural

circuitry, encompassing consciousness, subconsciousness and sleep

(with or without dreams) which is an important part of memory

consolidation that provision refraction.

Brown RE, Basheer R, McKenna JT, Strecker RE, McCarley RW.

Control of sleep and wakefulness. Physiol Rev. 2012;92(3):1087-187.

The self-obsessor poise of hugging one’s back, with sprinkle of

green in the wood centre with strong green patina.

In obsession with which self?? The subconsious ?

Also in the Helicity of Life subchapter. The double-strand DNAs, with primary gene-encoding

information, are transcribed into single strand RNAs, commonly with secondary structures. In vivo,

many molecular processes are conducted by a composite of DNA-RNA hybrids (R-loop), as in the case

of minicircles (Howe et al 2008, Zhang et al 1999).

Amongst gene locations in lifeforms, the most demanding has to be chloroplast genomes that engage

with harsh conditions of the photosynthetic organelle, with high redox fluxes to perform ‘splitting of

water’ for carbon fixation on earth. Most chloroplasts have genome sizes up to 200kb, encoding almost


full complements of essential proteins of the photosynthetic organelle. Most of the dinoflagellate

chloroplast genomes migrated to the nuclear genome during evolution, but not the mitochondria genome

that may harbor over 300kb organelle genome(Shoguchi et al 2015), with less than twenty genes being

encoded in single gene minicircles with only 2kb each. The most prominent being the psbA gene

encoding the key protein in photo-system II, which exhibits high dynamics with photodamage and repair.

These wonders suggested all the information concerning the transcription, replication and expression of

those important photosynthetic genes are all encrypted within each minicircle (Kwok et al 2023c).

IF there were a human guidebook 101, how should we formulate self-image roles in solicity.

Behold the One and Self in a bloom, others are con~combine

Figure 7. Homeostasis with Self:Con~Combine

Fried egg photo compilation, the left is the flip from the original; the right panel is in original form.

No photo adjustments in exposure nor color.

The left, obviously with passage, exhibiting a rhyme with the jocker in life. The younger right is full of hope.

The moving average is part of the mission. An egg can be life or death for a starving person, cholesterol or not.

There is no introductory 101 class in life; in our journey of encountering, many pay too much attention of how

we are percepted by others, superimposing a reflected self, prior to the self, all have been me.

Butter-flyging One Dream

Part of the subchapter Farewell my concubines.


Figure 8. One in Self-Transitions: ( 2 2 )? Painting3: (~70 x 90 cm Ink and color on paper)

ArtScience Concept: Life cycle transition in dinoflagellates (Figure 5) Imagine if we were transforming as a

protist through the various life cycle stages, all within the one cell.

We transform through physiological and psychological maturation; how would the human 101 guidebook have

said? after 1 to 2 2 ( 2 2 ). 2, seeking 2 0 again will require fostered interactomes

Part of the Farewell my concubines subchapter.

My interpretation of 8 steps ( 八步 ) rhyme with the commonly phonographic as the eight clans ( 八部 )

that protect the Buddha (sanskrit अष्टसेना,Aṣṭasenā) ; ( 天龍八部 ) the chinese literally meant ‘eight

clans of the skying dragon’ See Figure 9 Looking back i(n square box), retrospective, and learning from

our mistakes are genuine human traits that have helped not only in arts and in sciences, but our

perseverance.


Figure 9a. Quorum With Engagement, DriftWoodCraft2 (~100 x 20cm), In addition to sexual cysts,

dinoflagellates also undergone temporal cyst formation, allowing individuals to evade unfavourable conditions

(Kwok et al 2023b).

We are now having more choices to change jobs and residency in our life experiences. Media Concept:

floatwoods (with barnacles), fungal sporocyst (mushroom) infected piece for the bow, scent float wood base.


The saprophytic nature signifies despite our limited lifespan, humanity prevails

with considerations of future whom.

Three copper rings of the arrow. Both wood pieces accommodated nascent barnacles, capturing the moment

before microbial degradation.

Figure 9b. The No.1 Bus (original photo compilation) go through the whole Kowloon Peninsula.

Dinoflagellates rarely aim to habituate alone, whether in pelagic, or in interstitials amongst sands; they hatch in

numbers, from benthic cysts, from hosting fishes, or from other dinoflagellates. THEY catch the moment to

make a difference. from the Chuk Yuen Estate (Cantonese phonographically “bamboo circle=adequacy”) to

Tsimshatsui (‘the pointed end’) Star Ferry station, going through amongst other stations is Morse Park.

as depicted route apparent the legendary ‘one-legged self’ (‘woo’ 夔 )

(ideographically ‘flower this is me in my obituary’)

From 2 to 1 ( o C) again, passing through red and yellow, hopefully seeing green.

Every(one) counts in climate change engagement. Perhaps the morse law approached its margin

Product lifespans rather than unwanted performance (The seemingly funeral car-like presentation)

Of cumulolim~bus and lim~bus

With climate change, arts and science will be needed to help us to go through uncertainties,

Including uncertainty in climate modeling (Stainforth 2023) and amongst the individual us on the same bus

La Salle Road, where my alma mater primary is located, is amongst one of the stops of No.1 route.


Figure 10. Modular Self: One by-of Whom (Painting 4. 85x85cm, Acrylic paint-ink-color on paper)

Art Concept: Perceived image (the distance blue sun) whether by self or via others’ comments, and it takes

time to reconcile. See figure 16 and 17. The eight dragons of my personal Aṣṭasenā.

Dragon Color codes green (without head, bidirectionally two dragons): my youth; orange: my tenacity,

especially dealing with uncertainties; gold; resource needs biting into my time, blue: my society and black: my

turf; white: life expectancy, dark purple reservoir, my parental influence (esp. maternal)

ArtScience: Most dinoflagellates are mixotrophic, having the capability to conduct photosynthesis and

heterotrophy. A unicell grows with dependence on founder effect, the prevailing growth conditions

(concordance with the lag-log-diapause-stationary phases within a population), the call for metamorphosis into

another life-cycle stage, and the perceived resource availability. A metazoan cell perceives growth messages

through hormonal control.

Part of the chapter. On Cellular Growth and Genome Cycles: San sugre san profane(laie)

The orange dragon also looks back, with gold dragon eyes.


.

Figure 11. An underwater photograph taken in Port Shelter non-reefal environment (opposite to HKUST)

(circa 1995, Olympus Tough). The flower sermon, ‘For Whom it is for?” See figure 19 and 20

showing corals in the background, and two long-spine sea urchins

Two sea anemones, marked by two anemone fishes, also contain symbiotic dinoflagellates, as in the coral in

the background. Despite Hong Kong waters are in the subtropic, close to freshwater runoff from the Pearl

River, there is a substantial diversity of corals and marine life that habituates amongst the non-reefal

environment.

Symbiotism of Symbiodiniaceae-cnidarian that form the basis of coral reefs, harboring some of the most

spectacular ecosystems on earth with the greatest biodiversity. Anemone fishes are often protandrous

hermaphrodites, with largest male transforming to the dominant female

4. Symbiotic Dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellates of the Order Symbiodiniaceae form symbiotic relationships with many invertebrates,

including corals. Within coral cells, symbiotic dinoflagellates, also known as zooxanthellae, reside in

highly acidic compartments called “symbiosomes” within the gastrodermis cells. These symbiosomes

are believed to be modified phagosomes of the host.The symbiosome pH plays a crucial regulatory roles

in the transport between the host and the zooxanthellae, as well as in the symbiont vesicular transport.

While the host benefits from the photosynthetic products of the symbionts, it is less clear what the

zooxanthellae receive in return, apart from housing and nutrients in an otherwise nutrient-poor tropical

oligotrophic waters. Recent investigations suggest that a specialized molecular transport channel may be

responsible for transferring ammonia (a nutrient) and CO 2 into the symbiosome [4], which is crucial for

maintaining mutual benefits. The acquisition of symbiotic dinoflagellates by the host can occur through

two main routes: vertically through eggs, or horizontally from the environment, with the specific

mechanism depending on the species involved. The genomes of free-living dinoflagellates can reach up

to ~200Gb, when compared to the 1Gb genome in coral zooxanthellae (Shoguchi et al 2013).


Figure 11. Coral-Dinoflagellate symbiotism

A. The vertical and horizontal transfer of symbiotic dinoflagellates with coral hosts

(diagrammatic illustration by Dr. Alvin C.M. Kwok)

Non-symbiotic dinoflagellates could be rejected by the cnidarian host at the larval stage (Jacobovitz et al 2021)

B. Symbiodinium Life Cycle by Allisonmlewis from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiodinium, under a

Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-4.0 license

Dinoflagellates of the Order Symbiodiniaceae formed symbiotic relationships with many invertebrates,

including coral. This relationship is the basis of all coral reef ecosystems, providing mutual benefits. However,

the balance of the symbiotic relationship broke down, with the advent of climate change. Once the coral gives

up their symbionts, it is difficult to recover. As coral white calcium carbonate exoskeletons are exposed (coral

bleaching), the surface will be quickly covered by other opportunistic organisms. There are free-living cells

termed “mastigote” stage, which have flagella, in contrast to the npn-flagellated coccoidal stage inside the

host. Some hosts reacquire symbionts during the larval stage, whereas some are passaged. It remains

controversial if coral symbionts have sexual life cycles.


Figure 13. Two-Way Operatives

(Float wood craft 3. ~ W 20 x H 25 x L35 cm, with marine wood borer holes, the top piece was connected to

the bottom piece with a copper patina tube, symbolizing the passage of photosynthetic products to the host

from the zooxanthellae, the inverse tree branch has two rings, signifying the two-way relationship)

Science narratives shared with figure 9. We have yet to fully appreciate the mutualism between corals and

their symbionts, including how the host ‘regulates’ quality and quantity of zooxanthellae.

Is there anything else apart from ‘in sickness and in health’ ?

Figure 14a. Diagrammatic illustration of selective flow of nutrients and biomolecules between symbiont and

coral host. How the dinoflagellate enhances host calcification is not fully understood.

(by Dr. Alvin C.M. Kwok) drawn with published data from different papers


Figure 14b. The Subjectivity in Objectivity: Take Twos to Tangle, and Waltz

(Painting 5 ink and color on paper ~ 45 x 85cm ) Art Concept: Duality in relationships

ArtScience concept: Color chromicity in color. TA (thymine-adenosine) steps with GC (guanine-cytosine)

content, the propensity of dsDNA melting, TACG being the four bases forming the genetic codes

The 5th base in dinoflagellates(Rae 1973) (grey color left box) 5-hydroxymethyluracil replaces up to 60-70% of

thymine

5. Dinoflagellate Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is a type of chemiluminescence, light produced by a chemical reaction, which unlike

fluorescence that required another light excitation (Anaël et al 2024), is produced by live forms.

Noctiluca scintillans (left, ~500-1000µm) is now a global species, the green and the red variety depends

on the pigment of the algae the large dinoflagellate (1mm) feed on. These heterotrophic dinoflagellates,

which normally prey on smaller phytoplanktons, are very often responsive to eutrophication. There is a

photosynthetic N. scintillans that contains a green bacterial symbiont (Piontkovski et al 2021).

Historically, dinoflagellates were referred to as the Pyrrophyta. Breaking waves are not a normal niche

for the seaworthy. Many dinoflagellates generated intense bioluminescence that lit the shallow ocean,

the redox dissipation within the cell wall allows them to transform to resting cysts, in preparation for a

better time. Their obsession is for continuity, the self that is to come in ones. Please refer to Farewell

my Concubine Figure 6 Craft 1. The functions of bioluminescence were proposed to involve ‘burglar’

alarm and redox dissipation.


Figure 15. Cortical organelles called scintillans are the production sites of dinoflagellate bioluminescence

Left. Schematic representation of part of a dinoflagellate cell, depicting the cellular processes that take to

generate a bioluminescence flash. From (Valiadi & Iglesias-Rodriguez 2013)

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/1/1/3 under a Creative commons CC-BY license.

Right. Bioluminescence model in dinoflagellates: the effect of pH on both LBP and LCF Adapted from (Fajardo

Quiñones et al 2020) https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/5/1784 under a Creative commons CC-BY license.

A fluorescence superimposed photomicrograph of bioluminescence (blue) with chloroplast autofluorescence

(red) of Alexandrium catenella. (~25 µm).

According to (Valiadi & Iglesias-Rodriguez 2013) turbulence is perceived by a membrane receptor,

modulating the membrane potential at the vacuolar membrane through Ca 2+ signalling, which in turn

activate voltage-gated proton channels. The acidification of scintillans with luciferase-luciferin-LBP

with light emission (Valiadi & Iglesias-Rodriguez 2013, Valiadi & Iglesias-Rodriguez 2014). Different

bioluminescent organisms deploy different types of enzymes and components. The dinoflagellate

luciferin-luciferase are not the same as insect enzymes complexes biochemically, despite the same name

(Kim et al 2012). Hence, beaming with different dreams.


Figure 16. Impermanence With Now per se

Long exposure photographs at HKUST pier,

IV (Top right photograph) showing the ‘rusty’ color of Noctiluca scintillans patches during daytime.

N. scintillans blooms are now a global eutrophication problem, although they very often attract tourists for

being the surreal ‘blue tears’ https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/188074/%22Bluetears%E2%80%9D-spotted-along-Sai-Kung-coast

Bioluminescence is a type of chemiluminescence

But unlike fluorescence (Jessus et al 2024), no

excitation light is required, generated by the cell.

The insert photomicrograph was that of two N. scintillans cells

(Right) Light and fluorescent photomicrographs of DAPI (DNA

dye) stained N. scintillans (taken by Shao Ping Wen), showing

the nucleus, food vacuoles and tentacle. The large cell can be

over 1mm in size, and is of the coccoidal stage, their sea

surface niche is rarely shared by other microplanktons.

Most algal cultures are non-axenic, the bacteria holobiont scan be important for the dinoflagellate well-being.

However, it may render molecular biology-biochemistry difficult to interpret as most analysis require cell lysis

NOTE3 Technology Point. Many fluorescent (need special incident light excitation) proteins are

deployed for intercellular reporters to monitor subcellular locations of tagged fusion proteins (Anaël et al

2024).


Figure 17. The Population Dimension: Beaming-Aspecting Different Dreams

(Painting 6. Joypaint drawing)

The relatively unknown facet of bioluminescent population dynamics. The population is never uniform in

relation to spatiotemporal incidences of bioluminescence. Are those blinking few calling for quorum from the

rest, or vice versa.? ‘A roof above my head’ is the dream of many.

Cyst formation will be requiring complete changing of the cell wall (amphiesma),(see figure 24)

synchronization of which will make a difference in forming bloom in the next season, without which

alleochemicals will literally be a drop in the ocean.

(Dedicated the late Woodland Hastings, who pioneered many bioluminescence studies

http://photobiology.info/Hastings.html)

Figure 18. Quorum for wHome

(‘transformation of a Painting 7~ 35 x 80cm)

ScienceArt concept: dinoflagellate bioluminescence that lightens littorals forming ‘blue tears’.


Forming of cysts and over-season need quorum to form, with synchronized hatching for a better time.

We propose the effects of bioluminescence result in synchronization of encystment processes.

ArtScience2: Resources are patchy in natural environment and most protists, unlike metazoan cells with

hormonal signaling, evolved ‘nutrients up-down shift’ pathways for cellular growth concordance. The color

differences stand for redox changes within a cell per biological processes.

See also Artistic concept of painting 2 and 8 (Figure 3 and 19).

(The art concept of the Chinese legendary fish Qun and the legendary bird Peng metamorphosis will be in the

Chinese version of the ScienceArt commune)

Part of the Farewell my concubines subchapter.

Figure 19. Light ebb for light: 2 3 +1 (Painting 11. Joypaint drawing)

Art Concept: The relativity of happiness-suffering; how many faces do you see ? which way ?

(perhaps we should ask the A.I.)

The ‘real and ‘false’ footing, as well as ‘Qi’ feedback, in Tai Chi. https://www.wdgf.hk/

https://medium.com/@tresmancias-en/i-ching-in-tai-chi-chuan-7e1fc60bc6e9

ArtScience: Dinoflagellate bioluminescences exhibit circadian rhythm and photoinhibition

(Batchelder et al 1992, Hamman et al 2008)

The alternating light-dark with photosynthesis-respiration in the same cell, without let or hindrance. Quorum for

the population. “So long, and thanks for all the energy” – the coming way.

Color codes: wood rings with seasons, shortening days from left to right 2 3 +1.

Percentage (%) reducing from R-L and increasing fomr R-L

There are three domains in dinoflagellate luciferase (Wilson & Hastings 2013)

There were also reports that bioluminescence being modulatedby the ‘toxins’ produced in the same cells

(refer to figure 9b)

NOTE2 Technology point : omega-3 DHA and bioactive compounds


A heterotrophic dinoflagellate from the genus Crypthecodiniaceae (Kwok et al 2023b) was used for

industrial production of DHA omega-3 fatty acids that are supplements in infant formula. Without added

DHA (and fish meal), most farmed fish (and chicken farming) will not be viable, and salmon won’t

have the orange color, but aquaculture is hailed as our solution for the pending food insecurity.

Dinoflagellates are also producers of many bioactive compounds, including toxins that cause the

Shellfish Poisoning syndromes (e.g. Ciguatera fish poisoning, Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Syndromes;

their toxins are accumulated in bivalves and when taken in sufficient dose, cause toxic syndrome in

humans, commonly vomiting and diarrhea). Some toxins are indicated for disease treatment (e.g. cystic

fibrous). https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/21/3/162

Figure 20. Flower For wHome (~70 x 90cm, Ink-color painting 8)

For many animals and plants, unlike their unicellular counterparts, their reproduction is synchronized through

the seasons, with thermal and diurnal cycle regulation. For instance, all the oocytes within a batch are

synchronized that gone through fast zygotic division upon external fertilization. In dinoflagellate, the unicell

acts as its own gamete that fuses with another haploid, sometimes with hetero-mating types, to form a zygotic

cell (Figure 5). In plants, fertilized ovums are endowed with substantial storage lipids and polysaccharides, in

the specialized organ of flower-fruit transition.

The ‘for’ is probably answered by the Buddha’s Flower sermon https://www.rzc.org/news/buddha-holds-up-aflower/,

which was explicitly forwarded by Louis Cha prologue


‘For Whom the flower blooms? ( 問君三語 , 為誰開 ?)

with referai to Zhao Zhou (chinese character 3) (Figure 22)

IN: Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils ( 天龍八部 sanskrit अष्टसेना,Aṣṭasenā) prologue

1963-66 by Louis CHA Leung-yung first appeared at Ming Pao Daily

http://www.yingyushijie.com/magazine/detail/id/2119/category/52.html

Do swarmer cells live for cysting? or-and vice versa ? or for the copepod that happened to filter fed the

dinoflagellate ? Some said it is the DNAs, selfish or not (Ridley 2016); or the genome with epigenetics ??

Are infra- and intra-specific variations(Stephens et al 2020) ‘for’ the bloom ?? and vice versa

‘The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections said by Buddha’

The ‘All~mighty’ in Douglas Adam.s ‘Hitch Hiker Guide to Galaxy’ said ‘42’ ’[2 2 2] (For-ty-2)

(‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases’ (1978–1980) BBC Radio 4)

(The chrysanthemum in a lotus pond.) ((2 0 ) 2) x 2’ x 2”

.

Figure 21. Whom-Where does One rest with ?? 23 +1

(Painting 9. Ink and color on paper ~ 70 x 50 cm, 2019)

Art concept: Self-image or Perceived-One image (please also see Figure 25)

Part of the Farewell my concubines subchapter


Figure 22. Aspects of Perception: One is always Modular

(Float bamboo craft 4 with bivalve laden rocks and sea urchin shell, ~70 x 70 cm in length)

Part of the Farewell my concubines series

The seen bamboo root is held with another float bamboo shoot, copper patinas balancing

Art Concept: as in the previous page. All laws are one, where is one?

The Chinese character One ( 一 ), heavy-weighted

One always assumes relativity, to the mean? median and average ? to the ‘norm’?

To the extremes? to the sky? and to the star ?

amongst the moving averages, once a while, we receive a good run = a better share.

The balancing of expectations with perceived pay per unit effort

Self is also tentative, one with perceived image, one with wishful image, and one with self ?

The feeling of modularity is always a two-way process,

aspects of perception fonder with

Optimum Foraging Theory (Figure 3) (Hughes 1980)


Figure 23. A Moving Average Blink: [2 2 -1]+ [2 2 +1] = 2 3 -1

Original photograph compilation re-interpreting the Zen Buddhist compilation ‘Where is one’

(7 x 5 =35) the moving average with retrospect.

Zen Buddhist compilation. https://terebess.hu/zen/zhaozhou.html

Zhao Zhou also known as Zen Master Joshu (222)

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/rec.pdf

The monk asked zen master Zhao Zhou: ‘( 趙州 ) (778—897)

"All ways are one, where is one?" ( 萬法歸一 . 一歸何處 ) Zhao Zhou answer, "I made a green cloth shirt in

Qingzhou, weighing seven catties.

‘Cloth shirt ( 布衫 ) idealographic with ‘put three’

[3] + [7 ]=10; The Chinese character of ten ( 十 ) signify an alternative symbol of Buddha.

[7] signify the path to Arhat

A normal distribution meaning some afront and some behind the cohort bloom

The germination of dinoflagellate resting cysts commands a stipulated dormancy amid environmental

conditions, likely contributing to the synchrony of next season bloom

(Anderson & Keafer 1987, Genovesi et al 2009). See also Figures 18

The ‘ in AND out’ (Buddhism) per engagement 2 0 per 2 3 -1

One need to be in prior to be out-in, ‘From the Way come One, from one come two, from two come three,

from which a multitude intermingles in well-balanced Yin and Yang’–

legendary Laozi (4 th or 6 th century B.C.) Dao De Jin Chapter 42

‘The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections said by Buddha’ https://www.buddhisttexts.org/products/the-sutra-in-forty-two-sections-

%E4%BD%9B%E8%AA%AA%E5%9B%9B%E5%8D%81%E4%BA%8C%E7%AB%A0%E7%B6%93%E6%B7%BA%E9%87%8B

The ‘All~Mighty’ in Douglas Adam ‘Hitch Hiker Guide to Galaxy’ said ‘42’ ’[2 2 2] (For-ty-2)

Qingzhou’ phonographic with ‘green province’, and will need another subchapter to explain:

[2 2 -1] + [2 2 +1] when one got self, = 2 3 -1 the removal of one leading to the enlightenment path


Left. Two cysts of Scrippsiella acuminata (32-34 µm) showing the focused carbonate shell(Head et al 2006)

on the bottom panel. insert: S. acuminata

swarmer cell ~33 µm

Right. Top-bottom: A swarmer cell- cyst of Polykrikos schwartzii (~102 x 74 µm ) showing the protrusions

which in many species can be sticky.

Photomicrographs taken by Mr. Stanley Ping Chuen Law

Figure 24. Dinoflagellate cysts- Transforming within One: From 1.5 to 2.0 ? -1.0

While a half-degree Celsius temperature increase might seem negligible,

it can be life or death for many species attributed to sustained secondary effects in combination.

Carbon capture is a global issue that cannot be easily traded or compartmentalized.

In this context, biomineralization may have a better energy footprint (Bougie et al 2019)

than chemical carbon capture methods. (see Figure 1B)

6. Dinoflagellate cysts

Dinoflagellate cysts have served as proxies for paleo-oceanographic conditions (de Vernal & Rochon

2023), including periods with much higher ultraviolet irradiation and temperatures. Cyst formation,

notwithstanding the chemical resistant outer cyst wall, involves a complete change of cellular parameters

for the sake of persistence. Historical cysts over 150 years old were ‘revived’ and induced to hatch

(Delebecq et al 2020). It's worth noting that vegetative swarmer cells of dinoflagellates are haploids,

while the zygote (planozygote) is diploid.

Some dinoflagellates, known as 'calcareous dinoflagellates,' deposit calcium carbonate on their cell

coat. The molecular mechanisms of biomineralization, involving carbon sequestration, control

supersaturation and spatiotemporal deposition at the right place(s) and time, with energy self-sufficiency.

These organisms have had several hundred million years of evolutionary time to perfect this process

(Keupp 1991).Metamorphosing from a swarmer cell into a cyst involves a complete change in

metabolism, and cell coat composition, preparing the organism for long-term survival. All these

transformations occur within a single cell, which is truly remarkable. A~mazing is an understatement.


See Figure 26 legend for further description. The implications of these processes extend beyond the

microscopic world.

Figure 25. One Tidal Cohort Color, as well (Painting 10. 35 x 90 cm, ink-color on paper)

From left-hand top gradient to the right-hand bottom, the cells are depicted to go through a life cycle,

eventually forming a non-flagellate coccoidal cyst that’s ready to sink, with changes in cell wall components. In

dinoflagellates, the coat chemical dinosporin, which exhibits chemical resistance as that of sporopollenin, is


deposited to reinforce the durability of the cyst wall. In biogeographical time of hundred million years, many of

these cysts were fossilized with cohorts of the time, forming characteristic layering. These represent markers

in paleo-sedimentological prospecting for fossil fuel (Bogus et al 2012), with their oil-rich cyst wall likely

contributing to barophilic petrification to petroleum. These are advanced fabricable polymer technology, with

urgent call for plastic replacements, that biodiversity will help us to prevail (as well).

With COP28 pledge to replacing fossil fuel, dinoflagellate oleaginous cells (Figure 8) (Kwok et al 2023b), as

well as their internal cellulosic thecal plates may serve as a source for green cellulose (Fig.12)(Kwok et al

2023b) and may provision fossil fuel replacement.

Whether climate change will increase harmful algal bloom frequency, the demise of symbiotic dinoflagellates

with expulsion from their coral hosts may be related to their higher sensitivity to increasing ultraviolet

irradiation, with the advent of ocean warming. Most photosynthetic dinoflagellates contain the additional

carotenoid pigment peridinin, in addition to chlorophyll pigment (Polívka et al 2008), harnessing light energy in

the euphotic zone which can be at a depth of over 200m.

(the double-sized biflagellate cell at right hand bottom (blue arrow) in the above painting) which can also conduct

vegetative cycles without going to cyst formation, with decisions judged with prevailing environmental conditions.

This painting, in no way to depict the beauty and strong tidal range of Menai Strait, is dedicated to Prof. G. E.

Fogg. It is on the Menai Bridge that we often met, on my way back from quick visits to the marine science library

whereas my professor was on his way home after lecturing at lower Bangor. Our dialogues were never on

weather; his encouragements to do plankton research have driven me through many challenges ahead. I did

not know at the time he was a keen gardener and co-editor of the New Biology periodical (Penguin) which

published rather inclusive science despite a popular series. Not a university with a lot of resources, but a small

research boat and a strong believe in basic research.

With Waters Staying Me

Part afrontal part after

Catch uncertain-ty

Turling, turning, stroking with direction

Cleaning no need, ecdysis and flagel~lA

Fine, fine sanding, musking tidal and littoral

Brightened taste of wind

Light shallow deep spectrum

Middle maxium chloro~phyll Per-dinin 1

drilling in~frontal part behind

Nothing seen to move

Be~frontal of water laid

Lightened the promise of land

Not with a pollen

Not with a whimper a

Where lesser aqueous b ?

Bud with dino-spore

Surface dare the shorter wavelengths

Turbulence we dug

Grinning with sulcus

Searching for another time

Skin dive to benthos

We flow into one, surface awash

Cleansing with routes

Post-frontal

Am I a better one


Am one a better self

Am self a betterment

A~gain ?

Some come with oysters 2 ,

some glide the seas

Sum blooms with under-current,

Sargas~sum 3

Some interstitial sands

Some symbiosis with corals,

clamming giants

Sum blooms with iron feasts 4

From one to fifth log-a-rihymic

color to show the sky 5

a

Nevil Shute ‘On the beach’ (Heinemann 1957)

‘That’s the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper’

In correspondence with bacteria of Deinococcus sp. that survived radiation (Zahradka et al 2006),

dinoflagellate genomes have multiple copies of each gene, implying even with radiation damages, there are

likely some functional copies that remain for reassembly. b Lesser-aqueous condition likely involved in the

lowering of metabolic rate per cyst formation.

1.

Dinoflagellates have the special carotenoid peridinin for photosynthesis; attributed to solubility, the Chlaperidinin

complex is a major model for optical-physic studies of photosynthesis(Polívka et al 2008).

2.

The oyster parasites Perkinsis sp. https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/aah-saa/diseasesmaladies/perkinasoy-eng.html

3.

Iron fertilization experiments proposed to increase carbon sink to ocean bottom may not work out

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.greenpeace.to/publications/iron_fertilisation_critique.pdf

4.

Sargassum Sea Belt is now extending across the Atlantic, and may have affected lesser central gyre

water sinking, which in addition to climate change-mediated ocean patterns, may have contributed to

the demise of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

https://www.space.com/ocean-current-system-shut-down-2025-climate-disaster

https://theconversation.com/the-great-atlantic-sargassum-belt-is-carrying-a-massive-bloom-of-brownseaweed-toward-florida-and-the-caribbean-202570

The circadian rhythm of dinoflagellate bioluminescence at North Sargasso Sea(Batchelder et al 1992)

5.

Dinoflagellate blooms, including those of Noctiluca scintillans, are observable with satellite(Detoni et al

2023, do Rosário Gomes et al 2014)

7.Epilogue.

This ScienceArt Commune has been compiled with different levels of inclusiveness, in preparation

for both online and venue exhibitions. The chapter features approximately 25-30 sciencearts, hopefully

with videos, music (at a later stage), and installation arts. Several subchapters focus on specific topics

such as bioluminescence, cellulose synthesis, and chromosome stricture (not shown), each of which

could stand-alone as exhibition subjects. Given the relevance of dinoflagellate biology to climate change,

algal blooms, coral bleaching, and seafood poisoning syndromes, ScienceArt Communes can fit different

matrixes for science communications. I hope other art-minded scientists can come forth to share their

interests with a wider audience, including non-scientists, thereby supporting the sustainability of science

in our knowledge-based society.

As we enter the post-genomic era with multiple genetic transformation systems, the hitherto

genetically ‘intractable’ dinoflagellates will become strategic for basic and applied research in many

areas. Beyond their prominence in harmful algal blooms and coral bleaching studies, dinoflagellates are

significant for their intracellular cellulosic thecal plates, carbonate biomineralization, and some of the

highest oil content, notwithstanding the highest DMS/DMSP production. The caveat is that their nuclear

envelope does not breakdown during cell division. This feature, combined with amendable cell cycle

synchronization methods, implies that any positive-negative regulatory pathways (e.g. between nuclearcytoplasm)

will not be ‘self-`neutralized’ upon lysing (as occurs in many other cells), facilitating to

investigations into the one-self and all concubines.


8. Acknowledgements.

We apologize to colleagures whose works we have not included in this art compilation.

The narratives were exhaustively improved by Alvin Chun Man Kwok (HKUST) who also provided

all scientific diagrammatic illustrations and seek copyright issues for me. Various members of Wong’s

laboratory contributed photomicrographs, including Man Ho Chow, Alvin C.M. Kwok, Mike Bennett,

and Shao Ping Wen. Stanley Ping Chuen Law, a long-time associate of the laboratory, provided images

of cysts. Most of my artworks were accumulated during my recovery from the almost lethal liver failure

attributed to hepatitis A. During that period, I could only frustratedly write or lecture for 1-2 hours a day

due to fatigue. Interestingly, engaging in art seemed to combat fatigue and help reconnect damaged

neuronal networks, perhaps creativity is indeed a state of mind. An earlier version of this compilation

was reviewed by Nick Money from Miami University, USA, and John Bostock from the University of

Stirling, UK. Chinese versions of this ScienceArt Commune will feature all artworks with translations

and additional Chinese verses.

All the ScienceArts Driftwoodwork crafts are dedicated to the late Tilda and Donald S. Gill (Earley,

Berkshire, U.K.), my high school guardians. DSG, a member of FoMRHI (https://www.fomrhi.org),

taught me woodwork techniques with which I do not make justice to the immaculate finish he demanded.

Tilda, alma mater of Bangor University, introduced me to humanity and reading novels. Amongst the

early teachers who introduced me to planktons are Stanley P.C. Law, Patsy P.S. Wong, the late G.E.Fogg,

and John Dodge. My laboratory did not have resources to conduct bioluminescent research that the late

Woody Hastings repeatedly urged me to spend time. I thanks my my creative science teacher who spent

so much time in educating me. I sincerely regret I did not accomplish the first chapter prior to COVID,

during which I see passages of my parents.

Research in the Wong laboratory is supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong

GRF16104523 and GRF16101222.

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