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Angelina who?

An invisible force. A transparent substance. A forgotten woman.

The untold story of Fanny Angelina Hesse (1850-1934), who introduced agar to the lab

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Did you know that a dessert changed your life?

We are telling this story with a graphic novel!

This is the story of how Fanny Angelina Hesse (1850-1934) had the brillinat idea to use agar to grow microbes. Agar is a common dessert in Indonesia and is used in countless research laboratories around the world. 

Thanks to agar (and to Fanny Angelina Hesse!) we have antibiotics, vaccines, and many more drugs which saved countless lives. Sadly, not many people know this story—not even those who work with agar daily (see poll below 👇🏾 and feel free to add your answers)…

…that’s why we decided to tell the story of Fanny Angelina Hesse with a graphic novel!

What’s truly unique about our project? The story is based on unpublished historical material received from the great-grandchildren of Fanny Angelina Hesse. Some of this material we have deposited at the Museum of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.

We will also have some pages created with “agar art”, a technique using agar as canvas and microbes as paint. That is, microbes will help us “draw” the comic! This has never been done in a graphic novel before! See the gallery below 👇🏾 for examples of “agar art” done by Andrés Marcoleta & Team at University of Chile and by Aleksandra Wudzinska & Jef Boeke at New York University. 

If you look closely, you’ll be able to see the colonies (dots) of bacteria and yeast forming the paintings!

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News

“Corrado Nai's graphic novel has inspired us to name a new bacterium after Fanny Angelina Hesse!”
Dr Imen Nouioui (personal communication) Lead author of the study, German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ)

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Meet the Creators

We are a diverse team of scientists and artists living on three continents. Meet the team by hovering on the pics and reading our bios.

Corrado Nai

Dr Corrado Nai (Switzerland/Indonesia) is a science writer with a Ph.D. in microbiology. He published fiction and non-fiction in Smithsonian Magazine, New Scientist, Small Things Considered, FUNGI Magazine, and many more. He spoke to many audiences using different media including poetry, public speaking, performance art, and amateur video-making. He lives in Indonesia with his wife and baby daughter. Role: writer and project coordinator.

Neelam Ayuningrum

Neelam Ayuningrum (Indonesia) is a young illustrator specialised in the creation of comic books and with experience with self-publishing. She’s also adept at Japanese-style digital art with an authentic, painter-like style. Role: illustrator.
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Matteo Farinella

Dr Matteo Farinella (Italy/USA) is a neuroscientist turned illustrator who creates science comics for children and adults. His best-selling graphic novel Neurocomic (Nobrow, 2023) has been published with the support of the Wellcome Trust and translated into over ten languages. He currently works as Science Multimedia Producer at the Zuckerman Institute of Columbia University. Role: illustrator.
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Stephanie Herzog

Dr Stephanie Herzog (Germany) is a microbiology researcher with experience in illustrating science for different audiences. She illustrated covers for abstract books, developed short explanatory movies, and created graphical abstracts for scientific articles. Steffi has contributed to interdisciplinary teaching projects focusing on gender science, science communication, and science literacy. Role: illustrator.
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Jens Notroff

Jens Notroff (Germany) is an archaeologist, science communicator, and illustrator. He has been involved in archaeological research projects and field expeditions from Scandinavia to the Near East. He has published several academic and popular science works. In public outreaches, he focusses on the visual representation of research with infographics, illustrations, and comics. Role: illustrator.
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Elisa Granato

Dr Elisa Granato (Germany) is an award-winning microbiologist with extensive experience in science communication and outreach. She is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she conducts both research and undergraduate teaching in microbiology and evolutionary biology. She is passionate about using social media and humour to make scientific research more accessible. Role: scientific advisor (microbiology outreaches).
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Benjamin Kuntz

Dr Benjamin Kuntz (Germany) is a public health researcher and medical historian. He works at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany’s national public health institute. As head of the institute's own museum, he is particularly interested in the history of microbiology. He has published numerous biographies, mainly about Jewish doctors and scientists who were persecuted under National Socialism. Role: scientific advisor (history of microbiology).

Andrés Marcoleta

Prof Andrés Marcoleta (Chile) and his team at the Universidad de Chile (J. Acosta, P. Aguilera, A. Barbet, C. Berríos-Pastén, and V. Suárez-Clerc) study the genome, virulence, and anti-microbial resistances in clinical, natural, and extreme environments. Using “agar art”, they communicate and educate about microbes, and have won several accolades at the ASM Agar Art Contest. Role: bioartists (“agar art”).
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Michael Sauer

Dr Michael Sauer (Austria) is an industrial microbiologist with extensive academic experience in undergraduate teaching. He teaches at the FEMS Summer School on Microbiology Education, and is the incoming president of the Austrian Association of Molecular Life Sciences & Biotechnology. He is the Head of Department of Biotechnology at OMV AG, implementing a strategy for net-zero emissions. Role: scientific advisor (microbial education).

Paola Scavone

Prof Paola Scavone (Uruguay) is the head of the Microbial Biofilms Laboratory at Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute in Montevideo (Uruguay). Her research focuses on biofilm formation and ways to prevent it, especially in the urinary tract. She is a member of the Comicbacterias collective, a celebrated comic book bringing microbiology to a broad audience. Role: scientific advisor (science comics).
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Joanna Verran

Prof Joanna Verran (UK) is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, and has a MA in creative writing. Jo has received several awards for teaching and public engagement, including the AAAS Award for Public Engagement with Science. Since 2009 she leads the Bad Bugs Book club encouraging scientists and non-scientists to discuss works of fiction involving microbiology. Role: scientific advisor (science storytelling, microbiology outreach).

Frank Pieter Hesse

Frank Pieter Hesse (Germany) is one of three children of Angelina Hesse’s grandson Wolfgang. He studied architecture and urban planning in Kassel and worked for many years in various urban and landscape planning projects across Germany. Since the 1980s he’s been active in the field of monument conservation. He lives in Berlin and works as freelance author and consultant. Role: advisor (liaison with the Hesse family).

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Do you want to support us? You could…

…leave your email if you want to receive news from us from time to time (we won’t spam, promised)

…support us financially and become a patron. We we will print your logo on the graphic novel!

…reach out for any question or comment (corrado.nai “at” gmail.com)

…fill in this VERY SHORT survey. It will help us understand our audience!

Go to the survey

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Who was Fanny Angelina Hesse?

Fanny Angelina Hesse (1850-1934) was born Eilshemius in New York and married German physician and bacteriologist Walther Hesse (1846-1911), who in 1880-81 worked as a student of Robert Koch in Berlin. 

Koch and others grew microbes with gelatine but had a hard time, as gelatine melts easily and is digested by microbes. Fanny Angelina, who supported the husband Walther in his work, suggested to use agar.

What is often omitted from the story, is that Fanny Angelina Hesse was a skilled scientific illustrator (see below 👇🏾 for a stunning example).

Colonies of bacteria and fungi illustrated by Fanny Angelina Hesse in 1884 (© UB der HU zu Berlin, Historische Sammlungen: Kn 31800:F4)

As of early 2025, there are just a few primary sources about her: an article crediting her idea to introduced agar to the lab (published in 1939); one short scientific biography by the grandson Wolfgang Hesse (published in 1992).

There’s also an obituary from 1935, and a few textbooks mention her (as “Frau Hesse”) as the person who introduced agar to the lab. But that’s pretty much it…

…UNTIL NOW! From the great-granchildren of Fanny Angelina Hesse we have received a full, unpublished biography written by the grandson Wolfgang. This will be a major source for the graphic novel, which will present new details about her life and tell her story to a broad audience.

In June 2024, Corrado Nai wrote a history feature for Smithsonian Magazine presenting this newly resurfaced historical material.

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Others before this project have written about Fanny Angelina Hesse. Among them are Asian Scientist | FEMSmicroBlog | Hispanagar | Joyful Microbes | Microbe Notes | Microbes & Us Podcast | The Microbial Menagerie | Mikrobenzirkus | Mujeres con ciencia | Popular Science and more.

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Idea, concept, and coordination by Corrado Nai, science writer

Illustrations by Eliza Wolfson and Stephanie Herzog and Fanny Angelina Hesse

Website created by Sarah Wettstadt at MicroComms

We don’t assume responsibility nor ownership of third-party content!

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