ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Because we were busy with summer camps, I'm arriving late to the
discussion about the sterotypical image of a scientist with an Erlenmeyer
flask filled with glowing green liquid. My two cents' worth:

Speaking of "enough already," enough already of depicting Einstein as a
crazy old man sticking his tongue out and/or riding a bicycle. The work
that put him on the map was done when he was in his twenties. In our
planetarium show "Exploring Black Holes with Einstein," we even pointed
out that since his famous batch of papers came out in 1905, and he was
born in 1879, "you don't have to be an Einstein" to see that he was about
26 years old at the time. Yes, general relativity came ten years later --
when he was still a young man.

Speaking of iconic or token images, surf around to local newspapers this
week (in your spare time!) and see how many of them emblemize the current
heat wave with basically interchangeable pictures of children in various
kinds of water sprays.

And, speaking of stereotypical images, we might look at how science
centers depict their visitors. How many times have you seen the picture of
an 11-year-old girl (long hair, suitable for Van de Graafing, is more
expected on girls), with a "Wooo" or "Aaaah" expression on her face,
wearing 3-D glasses, with Van de Graaf'd hair? I guess I exaggerate -
slightly.

Steve Fentress, Director
Strasenburgh Planetarium
Rochester Museum & Science Center
657 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607 USA
phone (585)  697-1946
fax (585) 271-7146
e-mail [log in to unmask]
www.rmsc.org

***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]