Gravity, what goes up must come down and the popular story of the apple falling on the head of Isaac Newton helped him to formulate the Law of Gravity. Was it an apple or a comet that helped Isaac Newton to discover gravity? That is definitely another story.
A few of us may be familiar with Archimedes Principle and the displacement of water, which is equal to the force exerted by the object that has been fully or partially immersed into the water.
This observation which later led to the formulation of Archimedes principle, a law of physics, is rumored to have taken place when Archimedes of Sycracuse stepped into a tub to have a bath and notice that the level of water rose in the tub, as he was buoyant in the water. An interesting story, which may or may not have taken place.
A story is a powerful instrument in making science more understandable to the common individual. Everyone loves a good story and so do the scientists. This makes science interesting to scientists, as they try to understand, prove and explain their findings.
Storytelling is at the heart of Science communication. A good story based on a fact, can make a complex subject simpler to comprehend. As science is based on experiments, observation and experimentation, it is a long story, which goes through the stages of a story till a resolution is reached at the end of the process.
Every story known to man goes through the stages of the origin story, the call to action, the conflict faced, the overcoming of odds to get to a particular destination and the final resolution, when all components come together to solve the problem, which is similar to a science experiment.
Storytelling is an exciting dimension of science. In fact there are times when science fiction has influenced and still influences scientists in creating new inventions today. At times there are things that exist in science that are simply mind blowing and the stuff of science fiction like the metaverse, quantum reality, immersive reality and artificial intelligence.
Are you familiar with any unique stories that are based in science? If you were a science fiction writer what would you create that scientists could make a reality in the future? Any great inventions?
Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Philipp Berg on Unsplash