Monday, August 27, 2012

Dapper Dog's loves the Science

Albert Einstein is probably one of the most popular scientists in the world, especially in the West.  He in many ways defines what we consider a scientist in how they are portrayed and act.  The wild hair, the peculiar off-kilter attitude, and the absent minded nature that we associate with the brilliant mind stem from him.  In fact if we look at movies we can often pick out a scientist just by how Einstein like they are in appearance and mannerism.

But he is also a popular image that we associate with intellect, science, and profound knowledge that changes how we see the world and how we live.  The image is popular in nerd circles because it celebrates intellect and being different and yet still being popular.  The quote I find is very poignant for the class, because it alludes to the ultimate goal of science to explain the unexplainable.

To break down something that seems complex into something quite manageable.

posted by Vanifae @ 5:12 PM   1 Comments

1 Comments:

At August 29, 2012 at 1:00 PM , Blogger katherine pandora said...

the idea of breaking nature down into its simplest components is seen as one of the signs of scientific genius -- Newton and the laws of gravity and Einstein with the equivalence of energy and mass...one reason you often get an image of E with a chalkboard (either with equations or ready for some!) One of the points that has always intrigued me is how this kind of popular culture image also reinforces the idea that in order to be a scientist (a regular scientist, not even a genius scientist!) that unless you're a mathlete you're not scientific material. How many kids does this rule out potentially, especially since in the US we're not very good at teaching math to begin with? Would the E image be as popular in nerd culture if our culture in general had more positive associations with math (that it is beautiful, artistic, fun, etc.)? Because even when the equations are simple and elegant, many people still find them baffling...

And very true that you can usually pick out the scientist in a movie by the way he (usually) looks! (a la Einstein) How women scientists are portrayed is an interesting Hollywood conundrum (they tend not to be nerdy but glamorous!)

 

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