Category: academic research

I have seen this image The Island of Research used in presentations about academic research and design and I have always wondered where it came from. So I wanted to write this post to document my findings.

The final outcome of my search is that the copyright for the illustration is held by Prof. Ernest Harburg of the University of Michigan in the USA.  His profile and CV can be seen here. The diagram was drawn by William Brudon.

I first saw the image on the cover of a book The Science Game by Neil Mck. Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke published by Prentice-Hall in 1978.

The illustration above was reproduced on the third page of the book and in the preface it was credited to Ernest Harburg [“We gratefully acknowledge Ernest Harburg’s permission to use the Island of Research map” (The Science Game, Agnew, 1978)]

Searching the internet I found that the illustration was first published by Harburg in the “American Scientist 54: 470, 1966” and was called the Research Map (source)

The image was prepared by Dr. Ernest Harburg of the University of Michigan along with Elaine Stallman and drawn by William Brudon.

This is confirmed by the names in the botom right hand corner of the image below the blowing cloud. If you look closely you can see HARBURG – BRUDON – STALLMAN – 1966 (or 1965 it isn’t very clear)

Searching the internet I have found this information confirmed at http://www.profbailey.com/seminar/island.htm whereas this post http://dailygeog.blogspot.com/2010/05/island-of-research.html credits Agnew and Pyke which isn’t correct and links to this image which doesn’t attribute the source to anyone.  I also found it on a page at www.duke.edu which credits Neil Agnew and Dandra [sic] Pyke, and although the diagram is in The Science Game that isn’t the original source of the diagram.

I contacted Prof. Harburg via email to ask if I could use the image and received the following reply:

>>> “E Harburg” 04/15/11 7:15 PM >>>
Dear Ian,

I am the owner of the copyright for this illustration and I am very generous about having it used by my colleagues. I would just ask you to send me a final copy any publication in which it appears. I wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,

Ernie Harburg
<<<

So on the basis of this I will credit the image to Ernest Harburg (Used with permission) and will also include a link to this post.

UPDATE: A good quality scan of the diagram can be found on my Flickr page

I’m sure that you could also use the image with permission and if you want a referenced source then you could use:

Harburg, Ernest. (1966). Research Map. American Scientist, 54, 470.

The wording on the diagram can be found here:

http://barbourians.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/island-of-research-journey/