Scientist on the bar

What is it like to sit with half your butt at the bar, give a lecture in front of an audience you have no idea what their previous knowledge is, and also tune the speaker so they can hear it on the sidewalk? The answer is simple: great! 

by Eitan Crane

I'm at the La Champa bar on Fourth Street

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to participate in one of the most amazing events in the field of communication between scientists and the general public. I was one of the lecturers at the stunning event organized by the Weizmann Institute of Science throughout Tel Aviv: "Science on the Bar". And it's not for nothing that I use the adjectives, amazing and stunning: when the scientists who took part in it met after the event at a reception organized by the president of the institute, Prof. Daniel Zeifman, they were all amazed and shocked - the onslaught of the audience hungry and thirsty for science was beyond all expectations. She amazed me too - but not a surprise!

In recent years I have dedicated my professional life to the issue of communication between science and people who are interested in science but do not engage in it - I teach chemistry at Hamada, the center for science education in Tel Aviv - and teaching science for me is above all communication between a scientist (me) and an audience interested in science ( students of 5 chemistry units), I edit the journal Scientific American Israel, and I manage the culture-science program at Hamada, whose guideline is that the practice of science must be part of a person's culture basket nowadays.

The culture-science program has been running for five years, during which more than 20,000 people met with scientists as part of a rich activity of discussion meetings, lectures and courses, many in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute and with the program for the general public of the Davidson Institute for Science Education operating within the Weizmann Institute. As part of this collaboration, between Hameda and the Weizmann Institute, we participated in "Science on the Bar" - I lectured at the La Chapama pub on Harbea Street, and my friend at Hameda, Dr. Eil Cohen, lectured at "Champina" on Rothschild Street.

It was the culture-science program that taught us about the public's great hunger to hear scientists, ask questions and express their opinions. Although most of the advertising for our events is word of mouth, the events are full, and we almost always have to close pre-registration a few days before the event. This is why I wrote that the attendance on Thursday was amazing but not surprising.

And they come on the doors - all over Tel Aviv

But the uniqueness of last Thursday's big operation was in the atmosphere and the location - the fact that thousands of people went to pubs and bars to hear science, filling them to capacity (and all events were fully occupied) in the early hours before peak hours proved even to skeptics that there is a place for scientific communication in Israel. Maybe now the newspaper editors and media channels will understand that science is COOL, that it is worth investing in science sections, science articles and science events.

See you at the next events!

(The post was also published On the blog of Eitan Krain in Hamada)