Transcript
Communicating Science
Vincent IckeSterrewacht Leiden
Communication
Not Presentation...
...but Interaction
Know Thy Audience
Know Thyself
The Force Field between Content
and Form
General Rules & Guidelines
These Can All Be Learned...
...but this is not a “How-to” session
And by the way...
There’s more science than just the physical sciences
Wetenschap = all forms of research
Goals and Targets
What are we trying to reach?
Easy...
...and very difficult!
Attention...
If you want to get into a head, be aware of the fact that someone is
living there already!
Bridge between two heads
Goals & Targets
General population (“communis”)
Educational population
University students
Future professionals
Excellent students
Superb students
effectiveness =population x cross section
The most popular tv programmes have between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 viewers
A typical high school class has between 20 and 30 pupils
Media & Channels
All and everything
Print, radio, tv, cd/dvd
Personal appearance
Patient and long-term development
They, the People
General population 10,000,000
Educational population 1,000,000
University students 100,000
Future professionals 10,000
Excellent students 1000
Superb students 100
Science receptiveness“All you do is make better bombs.”“All that money and you still haven’t cured cancer.”“I didn’t understand it too much but it was just great.”“Wow, I never knew that.”“That’s just so beautiful.”
“I’m gonna win the Nobel Prize in 2025.”
Supply & Demand
Old: it’s all supply (top-down)
New: it’s all demand (bottom-up)
Better: balancing supply & demand
Communication: bridge between two heads
Product or practice?
People have at least some understanding about applied
physical science
The scientific practice (“method”) can be just as useful and fascinating
The Critical SpiralScience is driven by...
...curiosity? No!
Awareness (sensitivity)
Inventiveness (mechanisms)
Prediction (theory)
Experiment (critical test)
Awareness
Why is the sky dark at night?
Why is a child not the average of its parents?
Working Example of Awareness
Why is a child not the average of its parents?
Quantum Mechanics in the Coffeehouse
Cause and Effect
The same causes do not always have the same effect
So there are causes without effect...
...and effects without cause
Probability
Compute transition between past and future state
Cause and effect must both be specified
Transition probability
Quantum mechanics
Working Example of the Critical Spiral
Saturn’s Rings Not Discovered but Explained
Christiaan Huygens
Explanation of the “ears” of Saturn
Awareness of Titan’s orbit
Orbital mechanism => ring
Prediction: invisibility
Test: success!
Saturn’s Rings
An example of the Critical Spiral
Suggestion
Please think of such examples from your own scientific discipline:
something that almost everyone has seen but not been aware of
Scientific Papers & Other Presentations
The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Proof Has Precedence Over Persuasion
Project Fearlessness, Not Aggression
Strive For Self-Contained Presentation
Communicating Science
Communicating Knowledge
Communicating Understanding
Communicating Wonder
Communicating Excitement
Communicating Beauty
Communicating Awareness
Communicating Culture
Communicating Science
Thanks for Your Workwww.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~icke/
www.alien-art.nl
Science Is the Greatest Invention of
All Time
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