A Model of The Fertilized Egg

Scientific Art - A Personal Memorial


This sculpture of a model of the 8-cell human embryo was created in memory of Dr. Pete Rauh, a retired OB-GYN and U.S. Air Force flight surgeon who spent his last years in College Station Texas. It was commissioned by his widow,  Ms. Claudette Beyer.

A brief summary of how the sculpture was made is preceded by background information on its origin.

Here are web links to photos of the 8-cell embryo:
http://www.astrographics.com/GalleryPrintsIndex/GP2061.html
http://www.visembryo.com/baby/2.html

and here is a link to an illustrative video:
http://www.med.upenn.edu/meded/public/berp/overview.mov
(please allow several minutes for the Quicktime video file to download)



The daughter cells assume an idealized geometry (orthorhombic 422 symmetry), maximizing their contacts with sister cells.

This day-3 embryo has been represented artistically as a wooden sculpture:
8-cell embryo 

The sculpture has two parts. The embryo model (walnut) rests on a complementary cavity (birds eye maple).


But how was it made?

A plank of black walnut is cut to size (4”x8”x8”):
 
first cut


Two such planks are framed in soft pine and tapped with alignment pins:
 top+bottom slabs          pinned + glued

 and glued:                       glued


The external volume is excised with lateral carving, using a CNC milling machine:
 
lateral cut

and the top surface is carved with rotational cuts:
 radeial carving


The CNC milling machine is controlled by instructions (G code) generated by program SCULPT (© EM 2006):
 
G code

The piece is then rotated about the horizontal (x) axis and carving of the bottom surface continues:
 
bottom cut

Because the final cuts will completely sever the sculpture from its solid frame,
it must be braced and stabilized to minimize damage to the finished carving:
braced for the final cut



After the crucial, existential, last pass of the 8” (20cm) long cutting tool bit, the carving can be removed
and is ready for finishing. This carving represents the upper size limit for the cutting
bits and the machine to create such sculptures in 3-D
it's done


The complementary base is likewise carved from complementary hardwoods:
 base

 

After sanding, multiple coats of spar urethane marine
varnish are applied to help protect the sculptures from dust and fluctuations in humidity.
 my spray booth


Created 2005-6 for CDB by Edgar Meyer
Molecular Sculptures home page

For this project, a total of 14 models yielded one prototype and four presentable models and consumed the best part of a year.
The commission presented the opportunity to expand program SCULPT ©2006 to carve precisely complementary surfaces (cf. Abstractions)

The modelling shop was funded in part by the US National Science Foundation
and operates in conjunction with the University of New Mexico-Taos.