Q&A: John Durant and David Kaiser on spurring public interest in science
What are the best ways to get the general public interested in science? Last year a large MIT workshop convened dozens of scientists, artists, bloggers, citizen-scientists, and journalists to examine new grassroots forms through which people are engaging with science. Now four MIT scholars have co-written a report, “The Evolving Culture of Science Engagement,” stemming from the event, which outlines the rapidly changing science-outreach scene. MIT News spoke with John Durant, director of the MIT Museum, and David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and director of MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society, about the issue. Q. What is the evolving culture of science engagement? Durant: There is a tremendous proliferation of new forms of science engagement. Back in the day, you were really talking about journalism, public lectures, radio or television documentaries, museum and science centers, and not terribly much more. But today we have people doing...