Dr Douglas Holliday comments:
> We are all good at communicating to our peers and colleagues about our
> most recent research discoveries. We are altogether less able to
> communicate with a more general audience. I witness the decline in the
> number of students wishing to study Physics at University and also a
> reduction in those continuing their studies to a PhD level. In order to
> reverse these trends we need to be communicating to all ages and
> abilities that science is relevant, exciting and has had a profound
> impact on the society in which we live.  Any suggestions ?
 
You are right, of course.  More and better communication is always 
desirable.  But I think that there are broadly two other, 
interrelated,  reasons why science has these problems.

One is the relatively poor salaries which scientists can 
generally expect, compared with medicine, law, IT etc. 
Realistically, salary prospects do affect public perception of 
professions and their status, and if the subject is also perceived as 
difficult and time-consuming to learn (which physics and chemistry 
generally are), they are not a career choice except by those who find 
the subject so interesting that other considerations don't matter.  
The only Prime Minister we've ever had with a science degree 
reinforced this by the speed with which she got out of chemistry,  
into tax law and thence to politics!

The other is a longstanding cultural problem in Britain which 
affects how science and scientists are perceived.  There is still a 
noticeable persistence of the 18/19th century attitude that it's an 
OK activity for gentleman amateurs and eccentrics, but not as a real 
job.  A great deal of excellent work is done by individuals and 
organisations to communicate the real importance, interest and 
relevance of science to the public, but despite this and the 
popularity of such writers as Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould, 
the idea that there are "two cultures" which are equally 
intellectually valid has never really caught on.  The engineer is 
still the bloke with the oily rag, the chemist makes bangs, pongs and 
toxic waste,  physicists invent particles with stupid names and fire 
them expensively and pointlessly at things....and so on.    

In keeping with the recent introductions, i am a Clinical Scientist 
in the NHS.  We do try to communicate what we do, but it does seem 
that the public generally aren't aware of our existence!

Dr MJ Pearson
Department of Chemical Pathology & Immunology
Old Medical School
Leeds General Infirmary (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)
LEEDS LS1 3EX

Tel 0113 392 3945


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