Viktor Orbán 1989: a master of metaphor in the making / YouTube screenshot
Invited speech at the panel on „Communication of Infectious Diseases“ given at the second European Conference of Science Journalists in Budapest on 3 November 2015 at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The conference was part of the World Science Forum held in Budapest from 4 to 7 November 2015, hosted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in partnership with UNESCO, ICSU, AAAS, TWAS and EASAC. Weiterlesen
Jan and I with (in my case) an undeserved halo. Photo: M. Holl
Yesterday I had the honour to host Jan Velterop at IST Austria. Jan is a pioneer of the open access movement which he initiated with others in the late 1990s. In his talk at IST Austria Jan focussed on the value of peer review which, according to Jan, as practiced by the publishing industry today is a slow, expensive, unreliable, high variable, ineffective, arbitrary, anonymous process that undermines scientific skepticism, puts careerism before science, and is confirmation-biased. In order to make it more reliable and transparent and much cheaper to the scientific community, Jan proposed “peer review by endorsement”, arguing for a strict separation of the reviewing and publishing processes. While scientists should do the reviewing under their own names in the pre-publish phase using archives, the publishers should restrict themselves to the production phase, publishing scientific literature found worthwhile by the scientists. Weiterlesen
Last Friday afternoon I, together with 410 other graduates, attended the graduation ceremony of the Open University in London. In the course of an inspiring and at times moving ceremony I received the degree of a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities First Class. This was an extraordinary and memorable event and I thank all my loved ones who supported me during my study and especially on Friday at the Barbican Centre. (For comic relief see images.) Weiterlesen
Some summer songs. As usual a random selection of inspiring and reflective tunes. Here are the samples. I do not own the rights to any of these songs. Go and buy the music. Lists from the past can be found here. Weiterlesen
Memorial for the victims of the Nazi medical crimes by Dorothee Golz on the campus of IST Austria
This afternoon, I had the honour to present the first IST Commemoration Lecture. All seats were taken in the lecture hall, mostly by young members of IST Austria. I was deeply moved by their focus and attention. Here are my words of welcome:
Here is this year’s selection of Other Christmas Charols. Enjoy the samples. I do not own the rights to any of these songs. Go and buy them. Last years‘ lists can be found here. Weiterlesen
Emil Gataullin, Russia, „Towards the Horizon“.
Click to enlarge
On Monday, September 15, the Alfred Fried Photography Award was adwarded at the Austrian parliament. This year’s award for the world’s best picture on the theme of peace went to Emil Gataullin (Russia) for his image „Towards the Horizon“. The award ist named after the Austrian pacifist and author Alfred Hermann Fried (* 11 November 1864, Vienna; † 4 May 1921, Vienna). As founder of the journal Die Waffen nieder! (Lay down your arms!) and other peace activities, Fried received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911. Lois Lammerhuber, one of the organisers, asked me to contribute a text to the award’s website on what peace looks like. Here it is: Weiterlesen
Preparing for the profil cover shooting at the Theseus temple in Vienna / Photographer: Phliip Horak / Click to enlarge
A brief reflection on the Vienna Summer of Logic 2014. Communicating the science of 2500 logicians did not sound like an easy task in the first discussions with Helmut Veith in the summer of 2013. Logic does not lend itself to easy comprehension as it deals with a truly complex challenge: the science of correct reasoning. There are no impressive images, no flashy videos, no witty one-liners to attract a general audience and journalists in particular. The reasons why this task turned out to be a fantastic experience are basically the following: Weiterlesen
Preparing for a working group on „Science in Society – How to Overcome a Disjuncture“ which I am going to chair at this year’s European Forum Alpbach (in case of interest: August 22, 09.00-15.00, at the Hauptschule Alpbach) I came across the following text I had drafted for a working group I participated nine years ago. The title was „From scientific journal to breaking news: science and the media“. Among the panelists were Philip Campbell, then and now Editor-in-Chief of Nature, Rainer Esser, CEO of the Zeit Publishing House in Hamburg, and (for some reason not mentioned in the programme) Richard Dawkins as himself. The draft remains relevant and will offer a nice starting point for this year’s discussion. Weiterlesen
While in Chicago at this year’s AAAS conference in February I had the honour to meet Robyn Williams (pictured left). This Australian legend in science journalism produces one of the longest running science programmes on the radio worldwide. ABC’s „Science Show“ has been on air since 1975. As it turned out Robyn had been to the same grammar school in Vienna (BG Stubenbastei) that I had gone to, although a few years earlier. Robyn decided on the spot to do a piece on Austrian science for which he interviewed Tom Henzinger of IST Austria and me. Here is the link to the programme aired April 12 plus the direct link to the mp3 file. I come in at 3:10. Weiterlesen