Scientist and award-winning chef Nathan Myhrvold came to the Academy this March as part of a whirlwind tour for his much anticipated new cookbook Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.

Find out what it took to bring this extraordinary work all six volumes and 2,400 pages of it to the public, and a pick up a few other tasty tid-bits from his conversation at NYAS with Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi. It may change the way you think about food, inside and out.

Check out some of the stunning images from the book in this special slideshow.