Lessons in the communication of science from the BICEP2 story
- Time:
- Monday, October 20th, 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm
- Location:
- Bellows ABCD, Hilton Columbus Downtown
- Speaker(s):
- Matthew FrancisFreelance science writer
- Marc KamionkowskiProfessor of physics and astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University
- Betsy MasonScience editor, Wired.com
This follow-up discussion, the second of two New Horizons SXSW (Science and Science Writing) discussions between scientists and writers, will take a look at lessons learned by scientists and science writers involved with the BICEP2 story, which inspired wide Nobel speculation and looked like it might be the science discovery of the century when the results were released March 17, well ahead of planned publication in June. The story inspired broad speculation about the true nature of the universe, sparked rumors about spurious results, and occasionally devolved into discussion of arcane matters of intense interest to cosmologists and telescope-builders. Was this an example of the perils of press-conference science, or a chance to help the public understand how science really works?
For supplemental information about this New Horizons in Science briefing, see the CASW website
