Today, 24 August, a Swedish photographer and scientist celebrates his 93rd birthday, a man who went down in the history of photography with pictures of human embryos taken in vivo, Switzerland's first modern photojournalist - Lennart Nilsson.

Lennart Nilsson was born into a family of photographers, his father and uncle were photographers. When Lennart was 12 years old, his father gave him his first camera. At 15, Lennart watches a documentary about Louis Pasteur and is fascinated by microscopy. Over the next few years, Lennart Nilsson acquires a microscope and takes microscopic photographs of insects.

His professional career as a photographer began in the mid 40s. He becomes a freelance photographer for the Stockholm edition of Ahlen & Akerlund. One of Lennart's first assignments was to create a series of photographs dedicated to the liberation of Norway in 1945. Some of the photographer's early works published in Life magazine, such as Midwife in Lapland 1945, Hunting in Svalbard 1947, Fishermen on the Congo River, 1948, brought the photographer international popularity.

In 1954, 87 portraits of famous Swedes by Lennart Nilsson were published in the large edition Sweden in Profile. In 1955, the photographer publishes his own book entitled "Reporting", which includes the early works of the author. In 1963, Hallelujah is published, dedicated to the Swedish Salvation Army.

In the mid-1950s, Lennart Nilsson began experimenting with new photographic techniques, trying to get the closest possible in photography. His personal accomplishments in this, magnified by a thin and sensitive endoscope, which became available by the mid-60s, allowed the photographer to create innovative photographs of human blood vessels and the interior of the body at the highest possible magnification. In 1965, Lennart Nilsson achieved worldwide fame with the appearance of an early human embryo on the cover of Life magazine. Lennart Nilsson's photographs of human embryos travel from publication to publication. In 1965, a book called "The Birth of a Child" was published.

No matter how inconvenient and immoral it may be, the fact remains, and in order to show the development of a living fetus, Lennart Nilsson used aborted material and photographed the fetus, after the abortion, that is, already dead. Working with dead material allowed the photographer to experiment more successfully with lighting, backgrounds, and compositions. However, the origin of the photographs and the photographer's working methods are rarely mentioned.

In 1969, the photographer began using a scanning electron microscope to obtain images of the internal functions of the human body. Lennart Nilsson is credited with obtaining the first photographic image of the human immunodeficiency virus, and also became the first photographer to receive a photograph of the SARS virus in 2003.


























Lennart Nilsson was born on 24 August 1922 in the Swedish city of Stangnas into a family that loved photography.

Even in childhood, Lennart was more interested in the microcosm, the one that can only be seen through a microscope. Armed with a microscope and a camera, he penetrated into the worlds inaccessible to a simple sight, the inner worlds of a person, in the direct sense of the word.

Sperm in the fallopian tube


Nielson began his career in photography in the mid-1940s, working as a freelance contributor to various Swedish publications. Already at this time, such works as "Midwife in Lapland" and "Hunting the polar bear in Svalbard" brought him international attention. Lennart began his experiments in the field of microphotography in the mid-1950s and at the same time actively collaborated with various scientific and medical organizations.


2. Ovum

3. One of the 200 million paternal sperm, having broken through the membrane of the egg, literally pours into it ...

4. Sperm


For the first time he managed to photograph a human fetus in 1957. An unusual "reportage" shooting from the "bowels" of the female body became possible after Nielson, after a series of experiments, managed to combine a microcamera and a microlight, fixing them on the cystoscope tube (this device was used to examine the bladder from the inside) - this is how unique shots appeared illustrating the process the birth of the human embryo and its development.


5. Fruit

6. Fruit


“When I first saw the fetus, it was 15 weeks old and was sucking a thumb,” Nielson said. “But the magazine editors wanted me to remove the fetus's face. It took many years. "

Nielson gained international fame in 1965 when LIFE magazine published 16 pages of photographs of the human embryo. These photographs were immediately reproduced also in Stern, Paris Match, The Sunday Times and other magazines.


10.10 weeks. The eyelids are already half open. They will be fully formed within a few days.


11. 16 weeks after fertilization. The skeleton mainly consists of a flexible shaft and a network of blood vessels visible through thin skin.


In the same year, Nielson's book of photographs "A Child is Born" was published, the 8 millionth edition of which was sold out in the first few days. This book has gone through several reprints and still remains one of the most successful illustrated books in the history of this kind of album.


12.16 weeks. An inquisitive toddler is already using his hands to explore his surroundings.

13.18 weeks. About 14 cm. The embryo can now perceive sounds from the outside world.

14.20 weeks post fertilization


In the future, Nielson continued his work, making not only photographs, but also films.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Nielson collaborated with LIFE, taking photomicrographs not only of various stages of human intrauterine development, but also of other physiological processes inside human and animal organisms.


15.26 weeks post fertilization

16. Lennart Nilsson


Spaceships Voyager I and Voyager II, carrying messages to alien civilizations, among other documents, are also completed with photographs of Nilsson. He continues his scientific and photographic activity to this day.

Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson showed the world photographs of the inception of human life, from conception to birth.

The world heard about Lennart Nielson back in 1965, when his photos were published on the pages of LIFE, which depicted a human embryo at all stages of its development. Photos were immediately scattered across various publications.

Microscopes and cameras have been Nielson's passion since childhood. Over time, ambition was formed into a profession to show the world the beauty of the birth of human life from the very beginning. He managed to take the first photographs of the fetus already in 1957, but their quality left much to be desired.

Nielson managed to achieve perfect shots with the help of a medical instrument for examining the bladder - a cystoscope, to which was attached a camera with a tiny light source. It was with the help of this device that photographs were taken, fixing the life of the embryo in the womb.

Nielson created something truly wonderful: for the first time, people were able to see with their own eyes the conception and early development of human life.

Lennart Nilsson passed away on January 28, 2017 at the age of 95. Until the end of his days, he never ceased to be interested in science and photography.

20 PHOTOS

1. The sperm moves along the fallopian tube towards the egg to fertilize it. 2. Photo of the egg.
3. The decisive moment.
4. Out of hundreds of millions of sperm, only one can fertilize an egg. 5. The genetic material is in the sperm head.
6. A week later, the embryo begins its way to the uterus to attach to its walls.
7. After another week, the embryo will attach to the wall of the uterus. 8. Embryo for a period of 22 days. The gray area becomes the child's brain. 9. By the 18th day, the heart of the fetus begins to beat. If you have postponed an appointment with a gynecologist until this moment, then it's time to do it. The gynecologist will prescribe an ultrasound scan and determine that the fetus is normally attached to the wall of the uterus.
10. 4 weeks after fertilization.
11. At five weeks, the fetus is 9 millimeters long. In the photo, the forming face, and the holes - future nostrils, mouth and eyes.
12. 6 weeks of development. The outer cells of the embryo join the free surface of the uterine wall, forming the placenta, through which the fetus receives all the nutrients.
13. 8 weeks after conception.
14. 10 weeks after conception. The eyelids are half open. After a few days, they will be fully formed.
15. After 10 weeks, the embryo uses pens to explore the world around it.
16. 16 weeks after conception.
17. Blood vessels are visible through the skin.
18. 18 weeks. The fetus can now hear sounds from the outside world.

Lennart Nilsson was born on 24 August 1922 in the Swedish city of Stangnas into a family that loved photography.

Even in childhood, Lennart was more interested in the microcosm, the one that can only be seen through a microscope. Armed with a microscope and a camera, he penetrated into the worlds inaccessible to a simple sight, the inner worlds of a person, in the direct sense of the word.

Nielson began his career in photography in the mid-1940s, working as a freelance contributor to various Swedish publications. Already at this time, such works as "Midwife in Lapland" and "Hunting the polar bear in Svalbard" brought him international attention. Lennart began his experiments in the field of microphotography in the mid-1950s and at the same time actively collaborated with various scientific and medical organizations.

For the first time he managed to photograph a human fetus in 1957. An unusual "reportage" shooting from the "bowels" of the female body became possible after Nielson, after a series of experiments, managed to combine a microcamera and a microlight, fixing them on the cystoscope tube (this device was used to examine the bladder from the inside) - this is how unique shots appeared illustrating the process the birth of the human embryo and its development.

“When I first saw the fetus, it was 15 weeks old and was sucking a thumb,” Nielson said. “But the magazine editors wanted me to remove the fetus's face. It took many years. "

Nielson gained international fame in 1965 when LIFE magazine published 16 pages of photographs of the human embryo. These photographs were immediately reproduced also in Stern, Paris Match, The Sunday Times and other magazines.

In the same year, Nielson's book of photographs "A Child is Born" was published, the 8 millionth edition of which was sold out in the first few days. This book has gone through several reprints and still remains one of the most successful illustrated books in the history of this kind of album.

In the future, Nielson continued his work, making not only photographs, but also films.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Nielson collaborated with LIFE, taking photomicrographs not only of various stages of human intrauterine development, but also of other physiological processes inside human and animal organisms.

Spaceships Voyager I and Voyager II, carrying messages to alien civilizations, among other documents, are also completed with photographs of Nilsson. He continues his scientific and photographic activity to this day.



One of the 200 million paternal sperm cells, having broken through the membrane of the egg, literally pours into it ...





8th week.

10 weeks. The eyelids are already half open. They will be fully formed within a few days.

16 weeks after fertilization. The skeleton mainly consists of a flexible shaft and a network of blood vessels visible through thin skin.

16 weeks. The curious toddler is already using his hands to explore the surroundings.

18 weeks. About 14 cm. The embryo can now perceive sounds from the outside world.

Lennart Nilsson