Sciencing Out: Making Science Accessible and Engaging
In the premiere episode of “Sciencing Out,” host Reyhaneh Maktoufi introduces you to Hypatia of Alexandria, a mathematician from 1,650 years ago, and modern-day ecologist Dr. Nalini Nadkarni.
For centuries, women all around the world have educated the public about science, often stirring up interest, curiosity—and even occasionally uprisings. As science communicators, these women have bridged the gap between researchers, mathematicians, and engineers, making information that would be otherwise inaccessible to the public understandable.
Hypatia of Alexandria learned math and science at a young age from her father Theon. As she grew older, Hypatia became an expert in math, astronomy and philosophy, wrote multiple commentaries on scientific pieces, and gave lectures about Plato and Aristotle. These lectures—much unlike the ones given by other teachers in the Mediterranean—were public and open to people of all faiths.
Science didn’t just belong to those elite enough to understand the written words locked up in the library, Hypatia believed. She would take hard concepts from science books and promote her public lectures—educating all who would come—until her untimely assassination.
But the desire to find creative ways of engaging the public with science didn’t die with Hypatia. It’s moved through different women across different centuries, including Nalini.
As a child, Nalini would climb the trees that lined the driveway of her childhood home. “I remember loving trees and loving the fact they supported me,” she told NOVA. As Nalini grew up and learned more about trees, she sought to educate people about them and evoke earthly wonder in unconventional ways, much like Hypatia. By giving talks at churches, synagogues, prisons, and “places people maybe don’t traditionally engage with science,” Nalini has successfully communicated science and learned more about how people interact with the natural world.
