"Layers of Scientific Understanding" poster
Title: "Layers of Scientific Understanding"
poster
Some months ago, I invited phys-lers to comment on a new
educational poster under development by Jon Lomberg, artist for Carl
Sagan's "Cosmos" and "Contact." Well, you
had your chance; now the poster is done! And, if I
do say so myself, it's a beauty.
The full-color, oversize poster is entitled "Layers of
Scientific Understanding: A Worldview for the 3rd
Millennium." Lomberg did the graphics, and I wrote the
text--receiving direct help from the following scholars:
Alex Filippenko, Prof. of Astronomy, U.C.
Berkeley
Walter Freeman, Prof. of Neurobiology, U.C.
Berkeley
Philip Morrison, Institute Professor,
M.I.T.
Frank Sulloway, Prof. of Psychology, U.C.
Berkeley
Dan Werthimer, Director of SETI@home, U.C.
Berkeley
Richard Zare, Prof. of Chemistry,
Stanford
As its subtitle suggests, the poster is primarily designed to
show science students how the subjects they study fit into an
overarching scientific worldview. This is something that few
students grasp. Typically, even the best science students walk
away from high school (college?) seeing only the
"trees"--the disparate facts they encountered while
proceeding from biology courses to chemistry courses to physics
courses. They may entirely miss the astounding beauty and
coherence of the "forest."
The poster was commissioned to promote Wonderfest, the San
Francisco Bay Area Festival of Science. A low-resolution
preview is available at the Wonderfest website
<http://www.wonderfest.org/poster/poster.html>. Please
note that retail versions of the poster lack the Wonderfest- and high
school-specific bottom margin text.
The retail price stated on our website is $21.00. I would
like to make the poster available to readers of phys-l (&
physhare) for $15.00. All proceeds go to support Wonderfest, a
non-profit project dedicated to science education.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
- Tucker
P.S. To appreciate the full flavor of the poster, you ought
to know that it begins with this quotation from Einstein: "One
thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured
against reality, is primitive and childlike--and yet it is the most
precious thing we have."
--
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Tucker Hiatt, Director
Wonderfest
P.O. Box 887
(39 Fernhill Avenue)
Ross, CA 94957
hiattu00@usfca.edu
415-577-1126 (voice)
415-454-2535 (fax)
http://www.wonderfest.org
Truth is a great flirt. - Franz Liszt
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