To Bee or not to Be

Different designs of the iconic Manchester Bee can be found all around Manchester city centre and the surrounding areas.

My Manchester Bee was the winning design in a competition run by The Manchester College and is largely based on the science behind Lasers and IPL technology, explaining the beginnings of our understanding of the concept of how excited atoms produce light; the first working laser ...through to the development of technology as it is today.

Laser Bee Front

Laser Bee Rear View

Laser Bee Right

Laser Bee left

EXPLANATION OF THE DESIGN IN DETAIL

HEAD

The different visible colours of light and the wave lengths of the different colours of light are featured on the face. The bees tentacles show the visible spectrum of light and the top section is UV paint to demonstrate this part of the spectrum.

Red, Blue and Green light travel to meet at the centre of the forehead. Three colours merge to create white light which shoots up over the bees head, hits a prism which splits the light into the visible colour spectrum; the colours of light then proceed down the body fading as they travel.

OUTER WINGS

The outer wings deal with the useful range of light wavelengths in Laser and IPL technology. The line shapes from demonstrative diagrams are manipulated to mimic the shapes in a bee’s wings.

Below the wings, comparison charts to show the depths different light waves penetrate into the skin. Down the sides of the bee, high energy nano second pulses used in active Q lasers separate the top section from the underside.

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INNER WINGS

This section deals with the history of laser technology starting with 1917 with Einstein introducing the concept of stimulated emission...on to 1954 when Charles Towns demonstrates the first MASER and then 1960 Theodore Maiman’s development of the first laser. I also show the theory behind the workings of a laser.

WING RIDGES

The ridge around each wing and wing section features a time line of Laser and IPL technology history.