Date: June 22, 2010

Title: Pictures of Science

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Podcaster: Ben Lillie

Organization: The Story Collider — http://www.storycollider.org

Description: When I think of science, I think of Hubble photos. But I want to know, what is your picture of science?

Bio: Ben Lillie is a physicist who left the ivory tower for the wilds of New York’s theater district and likes to say that life is different now, largely because it is. He is the co-producer and co-host of The Story Collider, a monthly show of true, personal stories about science. He has also earned 27 badges as a member of the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique, which is 24 more than than the number of badges he earned as a Cub Scout.

Today’s sponsor: “Between the Hayabusa homecoming from Itokawa and the Rosetta flyby of asteroid Lutetia, 13 June until 10 July 2010, this episode of ‘365 Days of Astronomy’ is sponsored anonymously and dedicated to the memory of Annie Cameron, designer of the Tryphena Sun Wheel, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, a project that remains to be started.”

Transcript:

Hi, my name is Ben Lillie. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what pictures people think of when they think of science.

I run a show called The Story Collider, where we get people up in front of a microphone to tell true, personal stories about the times when science was important, funny, or otherwise interesting. In the first Story Collider show, Sarah Jewell told a story where she mentioned that, in high school, she had a poster of the periodic table on her wall, rather than New Kids on the Block. In our second show, Miguel de Leon also talked about the periodic table poster on his wall.

I never had a periodic table, but in college I had posters of Hubble photos. I remember hearing about the launch of Hubble, and about how the main mirror was flawed so the telescope was out of focus, and we laughed about it and made fun of them, the silly astronomers. I even wrote a play my junior year of high school about how science was neat, but wasn’t spiritually fulfilling.

And then I saw my first Hubble Photo: The Eagle Nebula, the “Pillars of Creation”, clouds of dust 10 light-years across where stars are being born. I remember holding it, transfixed, as I understood for the first time that there was more than just “black holes are cool” and “penicillin is useful”, that science could be inspiring.

So in college, I bought 20 posters of Hubble photos, and covered my room — wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling — with picture after picture of The Whirlpool Galaxy, Eta Carinae, The Hubble Deep Field, and many, many others. I would sit on my bed and stare at them; when I walked into my room I would smile as I saw them; I could feel them behind me as I worked at my desk. They were a constant reminder of the kind of world I wanted to live in, one where we could see stars being born.

While I’m a tiny bit of an extreme case, I wasn’t the only one with an attachment to some image of science. A chemist down the hall in my dorm had a diagram of protein folding, and at least three people had the poster of Einstein sticking his tongue out, every single math major had a Rubik’s Cube. And it wasn’t just the science majors. I knew an activist and radio producer who was endlessly fascinated by a picture of DNA, and a theater major who had made a stick model of a caffeine molecule that stayed by his bed.

And each of them had a reason, some story of why that was the image of science that mattered most to them. I wish I knew what those stories were.

And so here’s my question: What is your picture of science? When you think of the word “science” what picture comes to mind? Maybe, like Sarah and Miguel, it’s a poster of the Periodic Table, or maybe a double helix, or a bacteria, or The Earth, or Indiana Jones. Maybe you met and dated an incredible scientist at a Pink Floyd concert, so the cover of “The Wall” reminds you of science. Or is it a photo of your grandparents, or Roslind Franklin? I want to know.

So, I’m making this the first Story Collider online story project: Pictures of Science. Send us an e-mail, storycollider@gmail.com, with the subject “My Picture of Science”, or leave a comment below. Tell us what it is, and why it’s important. It doesn’t have to be long, a few sentences is fine. If you happen to know where it’s available online, include a link. We’ll collect the stories and publish them here on our website.

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy
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