Lennart Nilsson: The photographer of the ignorant realm

At the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden), besides quietly educated physicians, 83-year-old photographer Lennart Nilsson captures images of living things that cannot be seen under normal conditions.

This is the H5N1 bird flu virus that is implanting its RNA molecule into a human lung cell, the world's first three-dimensional H5N1 image. The 'cracking' method of breaking the frozen virus must be used in liquid nitrogen, then observing it with a powerful electron microscope to get this image.

In order to be able to acquire virulent viruses such as HIV, SARS, H5N1 and smallpox, Lennart Nilsson has worked with paralyzed viruses, used in vaccine research when collaborating with the most famous scientists. world. The HIV picture was taken in 1984 with Professor Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute. The smallpox virus is collaborating with Professor Britta Wharen, of the Karolinska Institute.

Stem cells are provided by Dr. Anders Haegerstrand, of Neuronova Company (Sweden) by extracting brain cells of voluntary patients, sucking liquids in the brain or treating epilepsy.

Lennart Nilsson's tool is a modern dark camera and electron microscope. For the past 30 years, he has worked closely with Japanese and German companies to order microscopes, endoscopes and the latest types of lenses.

Life magazine in 1965 brought the first fetal photo taken by Lennart Nilsson (1953) onto the cover that made him famous worldwide. 8 million copies of Life were sold out thanks to this photo and the article 'Life before birth'.

Of all his works, Lennart Nilsson is most interested in the image of the first double egg before getting into the uterus. That is the beginning of all life.

When life forms

1. Eggs and sperm: Reunion.

2. Fertilized eggs: Hours after the egg and sperm reunion, the eggs begin to differentiate and move towards the uterus thanks to millions of feathers making 'beams' swim. That was the beginning of all!

3. 16-week-old fetus: Up to 16cm long, the fetal leg bone is dark, penetrating through the skin. The rest is in cartilage form.

4. 25-week fetus: 43cm long, the nails have formed, the eyelids and lungs have developed but are not yet mature. The placenta has yet to promote its use.

5. 20-week fetus: 30cm long, half the size of a newly born baby. Skin is thin and wrinkled. Nails, eyebrows and eyelashes have grown. Unopened eyelids.

6. oestrogène: Aphrodisiac of women, in the form of crystals.

7. Testostérone: Arousal of men.

When life is threatened

1. H5N1: The blue bird flu virus is destroying a lung cell (pink). Its next stage is to implant its RNA molecule into the cell.

2. Smallpox virus : The blue virus on the cell surface has been paralyzed. Be eradicated all over the world by vaccination, one of six infectious diseases kills the most people.

3. Cancer: A urine cell (yellow) approaches cancer cells. The kiss of death.

4. SARS: Thousands of blue viruses come out of pink lung cells after proliferating. Appearing in China in 2002, suffocation syndrome was the first serious infectious disease to emerge in the 21st century, spreading quickly to the whole world in 2003, making more than 8,000 people sick and 800 dead.

5. HIV: Pink T-cell lymphocytes, proliferated by HIV (yellow) and attacked. In 2005 the number of people living with HIV in the world exceeded 40 million. Since its inception in 1980, HIV has killed 25 million people.

6. Stem cells: Opening the path of healing for the future, stem cells isolated from brain cells, extracted from volunteers.

DINH CONG THANH