News

Flash, bang, thud – the risks in popular science

Published 15 March 2012

Event 29 March 2012

Much popular science relies on clichés of pops, flashes and bangs which may do more harm than good, but it doesn't have to be that way, a leading scientist will say in his inaugural lecture this month.

Professor Hal Sosabowski will argue that popular science can be both entertaining and informative.

As professor of Public Understanding of Science and a popular scientist who has appeared on numerous occasions on programmes like ITV's Ministry of Mayhem show, he has spent his career trying to get serious messages about science across to the public through large-scale shows.

His Bigger Bang science demonstrations have played to crowds of up to 1,500 people and aim to broaden students' interest in science in ways their classroom teachers might not be able to. He has also performed on the terrace of the House of Commons to help launch the United Nation's International Year of Chemistry in 2011.

In his inaugural lecture, My Chemical Romance by the Chemical Brother, he will ask whether "popular" science has to equate to a "spectacle without a learning outcome." He will warn that although the resurgence of public interest and engagement in science is welcome it may not be all it seems and might eventually be the author of its own misfortune.

Professor Sosabowski first came to the University of Brighton as a lecturer in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences after working as a lecturer in Organic Chemistry at the University of Natal in South Africa where he started doing live science shows to make his lectures more entertaining and relevant. He was appointed principal lecturer at Brighton in 2003.

His research interests centre around his passion for chemistry outreach and "evangelism" on radio and TV and in print. Professor Sosabowski has won numerous awards for teaching excellence, innovation and enterprise and in 2006 was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chemistry.

He has won several grants from the Royal Society of Chemistry for his Bigger Bang demonstrations and since 2008 has been principal investigator for the EPSRC Partnerships for Public Engagement Grant for his work on a Bigger Bang show and a series of element-related shows such as An Elemental Spectacle: A Guided Tour of the Darker Reaches of the Periodic Table, An Explosive Odyssey! Journey to the Centre of the Periodic Table, Braving the Elements: Voyage to the Bottom of the Periodic Table.

Before becoming an academic, he was a preparatory school teacher whilst working on this PhD and a police officer with the Metropolitan Police.

My Chemical Romance by The Chemical Brother

Professor Sosabowski's lecture takes place at 6.30pm on 29 March at the Huxley Building, University of Brighton, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ. If you wish to attend the lecture please book a place. All welcome.