“Communicating Discoveries in the Search for Life in the Universe Workshop Report,” November 2025

“The (soft) propaganda value of lunar exploration,” Physics Today, February 2021

How did television shape the popular perception of scientists in the 20th century? Did television actually make science ‘fun’? When does ‘science fiction’ converge with ‘science education’?

By understanding older methods of science communication, I suggest, science educators can learn new ways to connect to their audiences. My dissertation, “The Scientific Storytellers: How Educators, Scientists, and Actors Televised Science” is a close study of these professional creative collaborations. Long before educators dreamed up ‘STEAM,’ scientists worked with writers and artists to realize their vision of science on the small screen. I begin with the earliest programs of the late 1940s and trace the development of the genre through the 1970s. During the past five years, I have combed through the production materials of See It Now, The Johns Hopkins Science Review, Watch Mr. Wizard, Sesame Street, NOVA, 3-2-1 Contact, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. During my postdoctoral fellowship, I spent time exploring the connections between Star Trek: The Original Series and NASA.