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