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Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut

PhD student in Immunology, University of Edinburgh

TEDCRED 100+
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Celebrity scientists

From Richard Dawkin to Brian Cox, from Sean Carroll to E. O. Willson, they have gave their talks here at TED, been on media, inspired and raised much of debates.

Who is your favorite scientist? Who haven't yet been on TED and should be invited to be on TED? and why? What is your opinion on 'Sci-celebrities'? Are they good model for kids, good educator, inspiring icon, or they are over-rated?

Topics: education mass media science
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    Michael Greenspan 10+

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    Feb 12 2013: My favorite scientist is a young canadian named Cadell Last. He started a website called "The Advanced Apes" which strives to bring science writers together and encourage young people to get excited about science. It focuses largely on primatology but all of the sciences seem to be represented. Here's a link: http://www.theadvancedapes.com/ It's nice to see an emerging crop of young scientists willing to take the torch and continue popularizing the various disciplines.

    You never mention who your favorite scientist is, who is it Kelwalin?
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      Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut 100+

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      TED TranslatorAssociateLanguage Coordinator
      Feb 14 2013: Wow! Thanks for your link :)

      I have quite a lot of favorite ones. Newton, Schrodinger, Feynman, Curie, Darwin, Hook, are special to me.
      The young blood like Brian Greene, Sean Carol, Sebastian Seung, etc. are good at explain complicate stuffs to general public; I like them too.
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        Michael Greenspan 10+

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        Feb 15 2013: Good choices Kelwalin. I know this is often mentioned, but we need someone to pick up the mantle that Sagan once held. To popularize not just "science" but inquisitiveness. Children are by nature curious and somehow we manage to rid them of this. Some people remain curious and its these people that end up our scientists, artists etc. There's more exciting science than ever before and there are more media apparatus for conveying the discoveries, advancements and ideas than ever before. Recently, I have been encouraged to see organizations like NASA begin to embrace making "exciting" videos like this one: http://hubski.com/pub?id=36252 about the Curiosity rover's landing plan. -It's a fantastic video, it's exciting! In the past it would have been drab.

        All of the sciences need to get better at communicating the excitement behind what they're doing. I think CERN has done a great job of this. The Higgs Boson is probably the least understood (by non scientists) but most celebrated discovery of 2012. Why? Because they've done a nice job of packaging it and selling the enthusiasm to the public. We need more of that energy!

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