CEBAF Center Auditorium & Zoom
On Thursday, March 6, at 4 p.m., David Ehrenstein of the American Physical Society will present “Stop Talking: How to Communicate Science to Non-Scientists” in the CEBAF Center auditorium and via Zoom. Refreshments will be served in the CEBAF Center atrium before the presentation at 3:30 p.m.
Abstract: The number one mistake physicists make when speaking with non-scientists is saying too much. We know not to use technical terms, but we can get caught up in our excitement over the topic and find ourselves getting into too many details. Or we forget how much background is needed to understand the “interesting” part. I will give my tips on how to avoid the glazed eyes we have all experienced in our audiences at one time or another, either in formal lectures or in conversations. I will also discuss how we at Physics Magazine choose which physics papers to cover and how we explain them in simple terms. Finally, I will talk about careers in science communication and how to start out in the field.
Biography: David Ehrenstein was the founding Editor of Physical Review Focus, an American Physical Society web publication that existed for almost 14 years before its content became part of Physics Magazine in 2011. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois, where he studied the physics of protein molecules. He spent the next three years as a postdoctoral fellow studying the biophysics of the inner ear and as a part-time science writer at the National Institutes of Health. Prior to joining APS in 1998, he was an intern journalist at Science magazine.