Who is your favorite "bringer of science to the masses?"

[uppi]

But there are some people who understand that a scientifically literate population is necessary for a modern democracy to function

If that was true, modern democracies would be doomed.

 

[Traitorfish]

"If that was true" does not mean "that is not true", though, does it? Just that it's unsettling to imagine it might be.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

School did not pique my interest in science at all and whether it should be funded. I would say the influence of technology (i get a lot of leisure out of it), science fiction and new health treatments (thinking about my self preservation in 50 years time) is far more important.

Anyway, my question is why is a scientific literate population required to be "necessary for a modern democracy to function". As I said, I have no clue about how my computer works and a million other things I take for granted and I do better than millions in my country by actually taking the time to vote!

Much of what I know about science comes from school, but a lot more comes from my independent reading out of school.

In addition to the science classes I took at the county school I attended (the public schools' science curriculum was pretty useless), I did four years of biology and chemistry in high school. The only reasons I didn't keep on in college were these:

1. I vowed to never again take any classes in which I would be required to do dissections.

2. I was in the organic chemistry class for exactly 5 minutes before the instructor uttered the dreaded words: "There won't be too much calculus in this course..." and to this day I have never taken so much as a nanosecond of a calculus class. I had to struggle to get through the middle stream of high school math. Calculus, for me, is out of the question. So I had to drop that class.

But I still needed a lab science for my Bachelor's, and finally discovered that physical geography qualified. I had a wonderful time in that class, and went on to make geography (physical and cultural) my minor, which went along beautifully with an anthropology (physical & cultural) as my major.

Geography is a very useful course in a lot of ways, and brought back some of what I'd learned so many years before in my science classes in the county school I went to - where more practical things were taught in science classes, given that most of the students there were the kids of farmers and ranchers.

@PlutonianEmpire: You think demotion is the worst thing that ever happened to Pluto? I'm reading a Star Trek novel by Peter David, where a Borg cube just ATE Pluto!

 

[Formaldehyde]

If that was true, modern democracies would be doomed.

It certainly helps explain many of the problems which continue to plague them.

What we have in many cases isn't so much ignorance as it is willful disbelief.

 

[Quackers]

If that was true, modern democracies would be doomed.

From the UN:

A scientifically literate person is defined as one who has the capacity to:

understand experiment and reasoning as well as basic scientific facts and their meaning
ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences
describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena
read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions
identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed
evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it
pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately[2]

Typically vague as these proclaimations usually are; I don't think the majority of people would satisfy all of these points.

 

[Formaldehyde]

They would be able to do so if they paid attention to what they were taught in school. Or they didn't decide to reject it...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

If that was true, modern democracies would be doomed.

*Looks around*

 

[Zelig]

Practically all of them as the rovers/landers/probes at the time were extremely limited. To single one discovery out - probably the most important was the discovery that the moon came from the Earth, as was only figured out on careful examination of all of the moon rocks they brought back. Probes of the time (and still to this day, actually) can only return grams of dust, whereas the astronauts brought back kilos. Grams of material are generally insufficient for the kinds of in-depth investigation that scientists like to perfrom.

I'm pretty sure "pick up some rocks" isn't something that you need particular science knowledge for.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Grams of material are generally insufficient for the kinds of in-depth investigation that scientists like to perfrom.

Well now, that depends on the field and investigation, doesn't it? Stardust didn't return much material, but it still shed a lot of light on comets.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'm pretty sure "pick up some rocks" isn't something that you need particular science knowledge for.

You have to know which rocks are worth picking up.

 

[Domen]

My favorite "bringer of science to the masses" is obviously Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, who is famous especially for one thing... :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicjan_Sławoj_Składkowski

... and this thing is the type of toilet that bears his own name !!!

He brought sanitation and Sławojka (Outhouse / Outside privy) to the deprived-of-toilets-up-to-that-point masses of "Western Ukraine and Belarus":

http://pl.bab.la/slownik/angielski-polski/outside-privy

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sławojka

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:Old_outhouse.jpg

Since year 1928 at least one Sławojka had to be constructed in every single building plot, near every single peasant's house!

That was a real Toilet Revolution in "Western Ukraine" and "Western Belarus", especially compared to the Soviet side of the border!

Since 1928 Belarussian & Ukrainian peasants in Poland enjoyed such toilet comforts, which were unknown to those peasants who lived in the USSR.

 

[Kyriakos]

He is a bringer of science to the masses, and also one of the masses

 

[Domen]

My favorite "bringer of science to the masses" is obviously Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, who is famous especially for one thing...

So if Western Belarussians or Western Ukrainians ask "What have the Poles ever done for us?!":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

They should remember Prime Minister Sławoj, who gave them Sławojka and sanitation!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicjan_Sławoj_Składkowski

(...) While serving as Prime Minister, he was appalled by the lack of sanitation in many of [Eastern] Poland's villages, and issued a decree that every household in Poland must have a latrine in working order. This prompted many village-dwellers to erect wooden sheds in their backyards for this purpose, which have been subsequently dubbed "slawojkis". (...)

Something that the Russian Empire failed to give them during 123 years of the partitions.

Eternal Slava to Sławoj and to his Sławojka!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slava_(disambiguation)

PS:

And of course he also brought his cool moustache and his overall awesomeness to the masses:

 

[Formaldehyde]

I'm pretty sure "pick up some rocks" isn't something that you need particular science knowledge for.

What an excellent summary that shows scientific exploration was clearly not a major goal of the Apollo space program.

 

[Crime Doesn't Pay]

I think Michio Kaku should probably be included on the poll.

Agreed.

 

[classical_hero]

Creationists are literally situated in opposition to the scientific community, though. The abbreviation to "anti-science" is certainly rhetorical, but it's not simply the empty flourish that "anti-life" is.

So people like Louis Pasteur, James Joule, Ernst Chain (A Jewish Creationist), Dr Ben Carson, Dr John Baumgardner, Dr Russell Humphreys and others must be "anti-science", also.

 

[El_Machinae]

Are any of those people not dead?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Anti-science is way out of scope.

It's a particular area in science which most only vocally object to, while having no issues with using the practical applications.

 

[Traitorfish]

So people like Louis Pasteur, James Joule, Ernst Chain (A Jewish Creationist), Dr Ben Carson, Dr John Baumgardner, Dr Russell Humphreys and others must be "anti-science", also.

If they subscribed to creationist theories, then it would seem to be the case.

 

[Dralix]

I'd like to give an honorable mention to Danica McKellar for being so damn cute ...