My friend and collaborator Ainissa Ramirez, a Yale University materials scientist and TED Talker, likes to call herself a science evangelist, and her passion and expertise at science education is unparalleled. So this week, with the announcement about the discovery of the Higgs Boson, was both exciting–because of an amazing opportunity–and frustrating–because she thought the science world largely blew it. Here’s her guest post about this defining moment in the history of modern science.
By Ainissa Ramirez, Yale University
Here’s what you need to know about the God Particle.
The Higgs boson (Higgs is a guy’s name, BTW, and a boson is a subatomic particle) is the biggest scientific discovery of the 21st Century. Period.
This discovery is up there with Copernicus. If we did not find the Higgs boson, everything that we understood about how the universe works would have been wrong. We would have had nice equations that describe things we observed in the world, but they would have been crap. That would have been $10 billion flushed down the toilet with the creation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and we would have gone back to the drawing board with our tail between our legs after fifty years of an aimless pursuit.
Ainissa Ramirez giving a TED Talk. Photo: James Duncan Davidson
And while we don’t know exactly how, this discovery will shape our world and that of our great-grandchildren in ways that we can’t quite imagine. When the electron was discovered in 1897, its uses were not obvious. But, what is obvious today is that we can’t live without electrons, since they run through all our electronics (of cellphones, laptops and TVs) and even make it possible for you to read this now.
So what’s the problem?
One of the founders of the Higgs theory, Gerald Guralnik, was quoted in the New York Times saying he was glad to be at a physics meeting “where there is applause, like a football game.”
The problem is that it’s only physicists that are excited. A few thousand scientists (less than 1 percent of the population) are losing their minds, not taking any calls, getting buzzed in the middle of the day, and crying and hugging each other.
The rest of society is trying to figure out why this is a big whoop.
The biggest discovery of the 21st century, which connects you (and the world and the universe) to the Big Bang, was barely a whimper to over 99 percent of the population.
As Cool Hand Luke said, “ What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
I think the nerds got it wrong by not inviting everyone to the party. The biggest discovery of the 21st century may actually widen the gap between scientists and the general public.
For the past few days, I’ve been interviewed by CNN and several radio programs to talk about the God particle. In preparation, I was armed with all kinds of pithy facts about the Large Hadron Collider, where the discovery was made, and the Higgs boson itself. I spent time searching for the best analogy to describe how this Higgs boson helped other particles gain mass. I had great facts like this: the LHC creates millions of mini-Big Bangs each second in an effort to create traces of Higgs bosons, like footprints in the snow. And, that protons are accelerated to make these collisions at nearly the speed of light in a 17-mile long circular tunnel–-going around 11,000 times per second.
The facts about the experiment are mind-blowing.
But, what my interviewers really wanted to know—all apologizing for their lack of science background as they asked the question—was what does this all mean and why should we care. Like many of my physics brethren, I almost missed the boat myself in stating the significance.
People don’t want to know the details of the Higgs. Not yet. They want to know why it is important and how this changes human history.
I did my best to tell them in terms they could understand. I felt like a voice in the wilderness.
Far too many physicists are freaking people out discussing how this changes religion, philosophy, and the like.
Hold up! You’ve got to get people to understand what has been done before you claim to rock their world. Shouldn’t we let people decide for themselves what this means?
This Higgs boson announcement typifies a big problem with science. The men (and sadly, it is mostly men) in the ivy tower throw information to the masses expecting them to appreciate it and even worse be grateful for it. (Oh, and by the way, these discoveries are made on taxpayers’ dimes–and Euros.)
I’m sorry. But, those good ‘old days, and I mean that with every bit of sarcasm I can muster, are over.
People are asking questions, and they have every right to get answers they can understand.
The headline is that we got it right. We came up with a theory, crunched the numbers, then we built a massive and wondrous machine to see if we were right, that this thing really does exist, and we were right. That’s big. It’s a reason to be proud to be a human being.
Scientists can and should bask in that glow for a while, but we should also spend a bit more time talking with the rest of the population, sharing the enthusiasm. Specifically, I think we should do a better job at teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using events such as this as a catalyst. Since science is right now part of the national conversation, let’s strike while the iron is hot and create ways to get more people excited about science.
Now, I’ll admit, the folks at CERN (the home of the LHC) have made some valiant efforts to teach the general public about science. There is a cute pop-up book on the LHC that I cannot wait to get a hold of.
But they could do much more. Since this is the biggest scientific experiment in history, they should set the gold standard for how to communicate science too. They are the role models that everyone will follow. If they made it a priority to communicate the meaning of this discovery all along, we wouldn’t have reporters scrambling to use the same sound byte all week.
So how could we have done this differently?
CERN should have hired a PR firm to develop a website for the general public on the Higgs Boson. Maybe CERN should have hired a TV personality to be a spokesperson. (I’m in the book should anyone care to follow up.)
How about educational videogames where the player makes his or her own Higgs boson?
Or an amusement park ride called the Supercollider?
Or have Peter Higgs do a cameo on The Big Bang Theory.
Now that we have the public’s attention, let’s show them that science is important, and yes, fun too. The Higgs has opened up the door to a conversation between scientists and the public. Let’s boldly step through it.
No comments:
Post a Comment