1. Week 1: Context
Science and Popular Culture || Fall Assoc. Professor Katherine Pandora

2. Where do popular ideas about science come from
Where do popular ideas about science come from? One place they come from is the visual imagery all around us, from kid’s cartoons to pictures in textbooks to news programs (the picture to the right is from a CBS documentary about the debates over pesticides). The image of the lab-coated intellectual surrounded by experimental hardware is both a workplace reality and a cultural stereotype These images are powerful because they are omnipresent and instantly recognizable, and so we will be starting our own explorations by looking at variations on the image of “the scientist”, both in visual terms and in terms of assigned characteristics that show up in all kinds of places.

3. When I’ve asked college students in my classes to “draw a picture of a scientist doing science” – a common task given to grade schoolers to see how stereotyped their images are of scientists – these grown-ups also produce pictures of older white males in lab coats in experimental laboratories, oftentimes with explosions going off (and wild hair as well!) – just like younger kids.
Now, obviously, the students know that scientists are a much more varied lot these days and often don’t look like the stereotype – just as each of them who are scientists-in-training don’t all fall into the stereotype. But it is interesting that the easiest and most fun image that comes to mind is the default one.

6. The Frankenstein image is one source for the “generic scientist”
The Frankenstein image is one source for the “generic scientist”. This is a frustrating issue for the scientific community.

8. In addition to mad scientists of course –familiar from cartoons and science fiction and more – one of the commonest images of the scientist is that of Albert Einstein himself. He is so famous as a scientist, he represents all scientists, it seems.
We will be looking at the ways in which this could be a good thing – it certainly is flattering to scientists – but what drawbacks it may present as well.

9. In fact, “Einstein” has come to be shorthand for “science” itself, as well as the idea of “being smart”, which can lead to strange pictures. My contribution to the Einstein scavenger hunt is my favorite odd picture, which accompanied an article on whether or not breastfeeding infants resulted in higher IQs when they were older (!)

10. And here’s one along the same lines of equating smart kids with Einstein.

11. The image of “the egghead” – a highbrow with more brainpower than the average joe – is one in which scientific prowess of a particular kind has also come to be equated with intelligence, both used for good and evil.

12. Scientists, Einstein, Eggheads and popular culture
Scientists, Einstein, Eggheads and popular culture? How to understand all this? First we’ll start with the concept of highbrow and lowbrow…be sure to bring your best face to class!