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| World Science Festival |
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| July 2008 | Science and Society | |||||||||||||||||
Inside both, the Nobel prize winning physicist and the Emmy winning actor, is a bubbling curiosity about our world and a genuine love for science; Alan Alda was able to tap into his, in order to bring Richard Feynman’s to life.
The decision to create this play was Alda’s; he fell in love with the character and went on a quest to find the real Feynman. After reading the book Tuva or Bust, by Ralph Leighton, he began a collaboration that six years later would result in the creation of QED, a play written by Peter Parnell. It turned out Feynman’s life would not so easily be wrestled into a play in one act. We are introduced to Feynman escaping to his office to do some work. However, the world is chasing after him: trying to get a moment of his time through answering machines, telephone calls, and personal visits that besiege him in his own office; he is needed for an opinion on a physics matter, a talk on “What We Know,” a performance on the bongos, for help in welcoming visiting dignitaries, and his doctor needs him to come to terms with the diagnosis that his cancer has returned. But, what does Feynman want? He wants to do physics…and he wants to visit the throat singing peoples of Tuva. His desk reflects his interests; the Challenger report shares space with The Story of the Wood Grouse and the Drake, just as physics shared time with drums and painting in his life. When Feynman found himself the lone dissenter on the Challenger Commission, he forced NASA to face their mistakes as he would later force himself to face terminal cancer. If the truth was out there, he wouldn’t allow anyone, especially himself, to walk away from it. After the news that his cancer is back, Feynman is hounded by his doctor to make a choice between a risky surgery and living out what time remains. He finally agrees to the operation, saying to his doctor “If during the operation I start to go…bring me out of it…because I want to see what it’s like…to die…It’ll be an interesting experiment.” Alda’s interest in science has led him to host Scientific American Frontiers, and to work with St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Following the play, Alda interviewed a panel of physicists to get them to share their Feynman encounters and to touch on the legacy that Feynman left for the world. With a gleam in his eye, Alda volleyed questions on dark matter and matters of Feynman. It was easy to see why someone like him would want to introduce the world to someone like Feynman. —Anna Magracheva No Monkeying Around With Morality If we were chimps, I learned, there would have been instant warfare in the auditorium. Lucky for us, we had morality. As part of the first annual World Science Festival, on May 29, 2008, philosophers Patricia Churchland and Daniel Dennett, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, and evolutionary biologist Marc Hauser met at the 92nd Street Y to discuss the science of morality from their varying perspectives. The discussion was led by Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and followed by questions from the audience. Titles like “Co-director of the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Program at Harvard, Director of the Cognitive Evolution Lab, and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Education and the Program in Neurosciences” make for “very large business cards,” as Meacham noted, but that evening they made for an expansive discussion of morality, where Aristotle was cited next to science papers. Meacham kept the mood light amidst talk of prairie vole mating habits and the role of religion in society. Dan Dennett argued that the human species is the only one capable of “full fledged moral and immoral activity.” It is a good start that the auditorium did not descend into a primate battleground, but then what is morality? The answer is that it is either decisions that maximize the interests of the group, decisions based on punishment and reward, or decisions that the brain is hardwired to make; or all of the above; or a nature/nurture balancing act of the three. Fortunately, the goal of the science festival was to introduce science to the public, and even for that, two hours was barely enough time. —Anna Magracheva Have you ever calculated the squares of two-digit numbers in your head, or tried to figure out which day of the week your birthday falls on this year without checking the calendar? On May 31, 2008, during the show Mathemagician—part of the World Science Festival 2008—Professor Arthur Benjamin, who called himself a mathemagician, performed mental calculations such as squares of 5-digit numbers and computing which days of the week people were born on. Perhaps specifically designed for the festival, during the second half of the show, he explained some basic ideas behind the calculations. Not only did Benjamin present how mathematics could be so interesting and amazing just like magic, but also how the calculation could be so easy once you’ve realized the tricks behind it. Benjamin interacted with the audience; children were especially excited about the show and enjoyed participating in it. After the show, I saw several kids still happily discussing it with their parents, asking them about some of the tricks Benjamin did not explain. Like magic, Benjamin had now rooted mathematics in the children’s hearts. —Chung Chang Volunteering for the World Science Festival I applied to volunteer at the World Science Festival (WSF) during the weekend, and my duties ranged from manning the information desk (“Yes, this is the last day of the festival, but we’ll be back next year!” and “The lecture is right up those stairs.”) to running errands (“Laura, could you please go to the Upper West Side to pick up this bag…”). By far, my favorite volunteer activity was the Saturday street fair for the children. I chose to volunteer at the New York Botanical Garden’s tent. Kids and parents could dissect seeds, help plant a large garden, plant a small polka dot plant to take home, or grind wheat berries into flour. I’ll admit, showing kids how to use a mortar and pestle for four hours while worrying about an approaching thunderstorm was not so stimulating to me, but seeing the children’s rapt attention and excitement for science made those four hours seem like four minutes. The street fair had Disney imagineers, stilt-walkers, jugglers, air-brush wielding face-painters, a robotic dinosaur, a mathemagician, anatomy presentations, a seminar detailing how Segways work, and tents from the major science museums in the tri-state area. It was inspiring to be reminded of the many ways science is all around us. I’d like to think that some of the kids in attendance may go on to be scientists themselves. In all, 120,000 people came to the WSF’s events in 2008, according to the official Web site www.worldsciencefestival.com. The planning for the 2009 festival is underway, and you can sign up for e-mail updates at the Web site above. If you don’t have the time to volunteer next year, I strongly encourage attending any of the events. I was amazed this year by the festival, so I can’t wait to see the improvements and additions for next year. —Laura Winzenread Natural Selections (NS): What was the impetus of the World Science Festival? Paul Nurse (PN): The original idea came from Brian Greene, the organizer, a physicist who wrote several physics text books. He asked me to be on the advisory board and also to participate in a number of events. So, I was involved quite early on in giving some support for it. I think the object of the World Science Festival was to bring science to the general public. I think it’s important because we are supported by the general public. If we don’t have good relations with them, and they don’t appreciate science, that support will be lost. Not only will that be bad for us in doing our work, but it’s also bad to the society because science is important for running and advancing society. The purpose of the World Science Festival was to educate and entertain. The education part was often presented in ways that could have entertaining elements to it. NS: Was this a truly world event? Is it going to happen again? PN: It is New York Science Festival. It drew on the world for people to come. It will be a yearly event in New York. NS: What will be changed next year? PN: Every event was sold out, twice or three times over in some cases… So in my opinion, bigger venues and more complicated multi-media forms. NS: What was Rockefeller University’s role in the World Science Festival? PN: The Rockefeller University did provide financial support… We did offer Rockefeller venues if they wished to hold things. They didn’t because we were a bit separate from the main centers, NYU and Columbia… They were very interested in the Rockefeller connection. They are also interested in personal connection because they know that I personally am very supportive of public interactions on science. NS: What were your favorite events? PN: I only went to the ones that I was involved in. I did three things. I chaired a discussion on how human genomes affect our lives, our health, and how we think about ourselves. I chaired another one on big physics questions, on the ultimate structure and matter of the universe. I was a panel discussant on a discussion on what it is to be a human. I think the last one was the least successful for me. I didn’t have much to say, quite frankly, and there were nine people on the panel, so big that little could happen. I like the other two. The one on genomes is close to my own interest, and I participated in a scholarly way; I participated in the physics one in an amateurish way. So I enjoyed both of them. NS: How did all this fit in our larger goals (if we have them) to interest and to educate the public on science? PN: At Rockefeller, we are primarily a research institute. We have some responsibilities of teaching and training graduate students and postdocs. But, I do think all research institutions have a responsibility for interacting with the public in different ways. We do put on public lectures. We started a series of public lectures, and that will become part of what we do at Rockefeller. Rockefeller’s support for the World Science Festival is part of that. I actually think this is quite an important thing for us to do and to continue doing it. —Jiabin Chen and Jennifer Bussell Related Articles:
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