The Mad Scientist Notion
The advent of television has been a boon to everybody in the world. It has helped in the world getting smaller and also for helping knowledge reaching the nook and corner of the world. But an another small part of this boon has been the ever increasing channels which are neither educational nor news related. These are channels for entertainment of the people. This coupled with other forms of entertainment, mainly the motion pictures have started portraying people as they want. The stereotyping of different class of people into different images and also making mental blocks in the minds of general public about one people taking up such profession.
One such major block has been the notion "Mad Scientist". This notion started with the portrayal of Einstein and his famous photograph of his hair flaying and looking like some crazy person. Also, many other books, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, to name a few created a wrong impression that scientists are either mad or don't know the ground realities. The image created by the media is that of a person, who does not care about his dressing and his peers, but always in an another world only thinking about science and nothing else. This wrong portrayal has created an apprehension in the minds of the common people about taking up science, especially as a career. This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of good students, excellent ones, in fact from taking up science, but opting for other streams of engineering or management. Also, these streams are more lucrative than science. Also, the presence of more beautiful faces in other streams, like those in movies and many other careers.
I am writing this blog to try and change the image of scientists from people who are completely out of the world and are not concerned about the reality. Scientists are the major force behind innovations and have contributed significantly to the society. By far, almost 90% of innovators are scientists, whose inventions are used to increase the standard of living of the society. These people also behave like others who can also converse freely in any other topic ranging from sports to other current affairs, without any hiccups. Not all scientists are geeky and have a monstrous look to them. Most of their work involves improving the human race. The changes brought about by scientists are everywhere to see from national security to medicine to entertainment.
There is curiosity in every common man, if it becomes bigger, he becomes a scientist. This helps him because he tends to enjoy what he is doing better than most others. Also, the thought that the work he does helps the society motivates him. The ordinary man too can become a scientist and achieve stardom, which people think only comes in films or politics. Hard work pays here too. Nobel prizes are the equivalent of Oscars. The most satisfying experience of doing science is seeing the change brought about to the world due to the research and increasing the knowledge. The creation of new substances (synthesized, in scientific terms) and knowing it thoroughly (characterization) coupled with seeing the predictions come true is purely fun and enjoyable.
I, shall end this blog by saying that "do not label scientists as geeky and nerds, because they help in making the world a better place to live in".
One such major block has been the notion "Mad Scientist". This notion started with the portrayal of Einstein and his famous photograph of his hair flaying and looking like some crazy person. Also, many other books, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, to name a few created a wrong impression that scientists are either mad or don't know the ground realities. The image created by the media is that of a person, who does not care about his dressing and his peers, but always in an another world only thinking about science and nothing else. This wrong portrayal has created an apprehension in the minds of the common people about taking up science, especially as a career. This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of good students, excellent ones, in fact from taking up science, but opting for other streams of engineering or management. Also, these streams are more lucrative than science. Also, the presence of more beautiful faces in other streams, like those in movies and many other careers.
I am writing this blog to try and change the image of scientists from people who are completely out of the world and are not concerned about the reality. Scientists are the major force behind innovations and have contributed significantly to the society. By far, almost 90% of innovators are scientists, whose inventions are used to increase the standard of living of the society. These people also behave like others who can also converse freely in any other topic ranging from sports to other current affairs, without any hiccups. Not all scientists are geeky and have a monstrous look to them. Most of their work involves improving the human race. The changes brought about by scientists are everywhere to see from national security to medicine to entertainment.
There is curiosity in every common man, if it becomes bigger, he becomes a scientist. This helps him because he tends to enjoy what he is doing better than most others. Also, the thought that the work he does helps the society motivates him. The ordinary man too can become a scientist and achieve stardom, which people think only comes in films or politics. Hard work pays here too. Nobel prizes are the equivalent of Oscars. The most satisfying experience of doing science is seeing the change brought about to the world due to the research and increasing the knowledge. The creation of new substances (synthesized, in scientific terms) and knowing it thoroughly (characterization) coupled with seeing the predictions come true is purely fun and enjoyable.
I, shall end this blog by saying that "do not label scientists as geeky and nerds, because they help in making the world a better place to live in".
posted by Arun Narasimhan @ 10:34 PM
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