Missing Pictures – Bringing Women in Science to Light
Berlin-based photographer uses AI to create iconic portraits of underrepresented female scientists
Photographer and science communicator Gesine Born, director of the Bilderinstitut, has presented her latest project, "Missing Pictures," at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI), Born brings to life portraits of prominent but often visually underrepresented female scientists, including Rosalind Franklin, Lise Meitner, and Cécile Vogt—the latter being founder of the predecessor to the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. This project aims to retrospectively honor these women and their remarkable contributions to science.
Cécile Vogt: A Pioneer for Women in Science
A striking AI-generated portrait of the 90-year-old neuroscientist Cécile Vogt, depicted sitting before two large brains, was displayed in the lecture hall of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research on October 10, 2024. At first glance, the photograph appears authentic, but it is an expertly crafted AI creation.
Erin Schuman, Managing Director of the MPI for Brain Research, recounted key moments from the life of Cécile Vogt, a French neuroscientist who, alongside her husband Oskar Vogt, made significant contributions to modern brain research. Cécile Vogt conducted extensive studies on brain anatomy. She received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Paris in 1900 – at a time when only five percent of graduates were women. In 1914, the couple founded the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research, later becoming the Max Planck Institute. Due to increasing repression by the Nazi regime, the couple had to leave Berlin in 1937 and founded a private research institute in the Black Forest. With their extensive collection of human brain slices, the couple laid an important foundation for modern brain research. Cécile Vogt was nominated 13 times for the Nobel Prize, but never received it. After her death, Cécile’s achievements were overshadowed by her husband, a common fate for many female scientists of the era.
Shining Light on the Forgotten Women of Science
Through her portraits, Gesine Born aims to correct the systematic denial of women’s contributions to science. Born highlights how ancestral galleries in academic and research institutions—the infamous "dude walls"—almost exclusively feature men. To redress this imbalance, Born creates portraits of women scientists using strong poses and dramatic lighting, emphasizing their equal stature. Born’s recent "Missing Pictures" exhibition, in close collaboration with the Schader Foundation, displayed at the Schader Forum in Darmstadt, honored 17 posthumous female scientists, including Cécile Vogt, Lise Meitner, and Rosalind Franklin with AI-generated portraits. “These photorealistic images reclaim the visibility that women in science have been denied, and tell their unjustly overlooked stories,” Born explains. The exhibition also showcased „missing pictures“ of eight underrepresented local female scientists from the Rhein-Main region.
How AI Revives the Past
For her work, Born uses the AI program MidJourney, which generates highly realistic images using available historical photos, biographical details, and contextual information. The process often requires numerous iterations until the “perfect portrait” emerges. This allows Born to breathe life into the often blurry or low-resolution images of female scientists from the past, creating vibrant, detailed representations.
“Humans are wired to connect with faces. Photographs and visual representations carry immense weight,” says Erin Schuman. “This project is important not only for recognizing history, but also for inspiring future generations by representing those who have come before us—especially those with whom we share common traits, like gender.”
Reimagining History: A Live AI Demonstration
In a live demonstration, Gesine Born, alongside the audience at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, brought Cécile Vogt to life using AI. The neuroscientist was playfully reimagined in various contexts, including a surprising portrayal as a punk rocker, symbolizing the versatility and impact of her legacy. “It’s wonderful that after the exhibition in Darmstadt, some of these images, like the one of Cécile Vogt, are being displayed in the institutes where they truly belong,” Born shared.
About Gesine Born
Gesine Born studied chemistry and communication design, with a focus on photography, in Hamburg. During her studies at the HTW, she developed a passion for portrait photography and the visualization of complex systems. In 2022, she founded the Bilderinstitut to continue exploring innovative visualizations. Her recent work received a fellowship from the Kiel Science Communication Network, supporting her mission to make women in science more visible through art.
About the Schader Foundation
The Schader Foundation, located in Darmstadt, supports initiatives at the intersection of social science and practice, particularly those fostering solutions to societal challenges. It promotes dialogues across academia, politics, business, and civil society, aiming to create socially relevant research and impact-focused public engagement.
