Visualization for the Physical Sciences

Close collaboration with other scientific fields is seen as an important goal for the visualization community by leading researchers in visualization. Yet, engaging in a scientific collaboration can be challenging. Physical sciences, with its array of research directions, provide many exciting challenges for a visualization scientist which in turn create ample possibilities for collaboration. We present the first survey of its kind that provides a comprehensive view on existing work on visualization for the physical sciences. We introduce a novel classification scheme based on application area, data dimensionality and main challenge addressed and apply this classification scheme to each contribution from the literature. Our classification highlights mature areas in visualization for the physical sciences and suggests directions for future work. Our survey serves as a useful starting point for those interested in visualization for the physical sciences, namely astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences and physics.