This week, I want to highlight what I think is a rather underappreciated and under-promoted science career: science writing.
Science writers (or science communicators to be more general) are ambassadors of the science world, making otherwise complicated and intimidating science understandable for the general public. They are teachers who can educate millions of people at a time.
As our society relies more and more on science and technology to solve some very large problems, science communicators play a crucial role in keeping the public informed about new ideas and discoveries.
To demonstrate my point, check out this blog post at Scientific American. After Time Magazine nominated the Higgs Boson for “Person of the Year”, science writer Michael Moyer went through Time’s description of the Higgs particle and corrected every statement that was wrong. In his own words:
Under ordinary circumstances, we would be all for the elevation of the Higgs to “Person of the Year” status, if only to further honor the heroic efforts of thousands of scientists and engineers who made the discovery possible (more on that below). But Time’s nomination threatens to do more harm than good. Every single sentence in Time’s nomination contains at least one serious error.
Clearly, the world could use a few more science writers.
This week I will be sharing some of my favorite lady science writers. Do you have a favorite female science writer or communicator? Let me know and I will make a post about her too!
