“Science isn’t just a human story; it’s our story.”

Abby Norman
Aug 22, 2017 · 3 min read

When a major scientific discovery is made, or a new technological breakthrough is achieved, we want to know the who as much as the how. From Einstein’s tireless work at a patent office to Ben Franklin’s kite tied to a key — we’re as captivated by the story behind the research as we are the actual breakthrough.

That being said, the central figures in these stories are most often the scientists. But they are only part of the story.

Whether the discovery was made on the International Space Station, at a university, or at the bottom of the ocean, there are many people who contributed…people whose names, whose dedication, and whose unique contributions have been (or will very soon be) lost to history.

Brian Koberlein, an astrophysicist and science communicator, is on a mission to find — and tell — those stories. His medium? A television series he’s calling Big Science.

“We see the wondrous discoveries in the headlines, but that’s only the end result of months or years of planning.”

Koberlein and his team are currently in the development phase of the project, which went up on Kickstarter earlier this month. The idea for the show grew out of Koberlein’s own insatiable curiosity about science and where it happens.

“The project began when I visited several big science facilities. One of the first things that hits you is their scale. Many of them are in remote locations, so you don’t just have to build the scientific equipment, you have to build the infrastructure to support it,” Koberlein said.

“Teams of people work every day to maintain these facilities and keep things running smoothly, and yet you never hear their stories.”

Big Science would be looking at both the macro perspective, focusing on the incredible research facilities where science is happening all over the world, as well as the microcosm within those facilities — the people and the stories behind it. “Each episode will be filmed on location, and will explore its people and culture,” Koberlein notes. “When you read about discoveries from these facilities, you’ll know about that little restaurant where physicists gather to have a beer or that time a bat got lost in the neutrino detector.”

Koberlein goes on to clarify that the series would tell “the stories of computer technicians who have to work in an oxygenated environment at ALMA because of the extreme altitude, or biologists who help maintain various wildlife at Fermilab, or the cooks who have to feed dozens of people trapped at Kitt Peak during a winter storm.”

The show wouldn’t gloss over the research being done, of course. Koberlein said that another focal point of the show’s storytelling would be providing a glimpse into how scientists — often across multiple disciplines — work together to overcome challenges throughout the research process. “We see the wondrous discoveries in the headlines, but that’s only the end result of months or years of planning, study, and work,” Koberlein notes, adding “Science is a high-risk endeavor, and that means sometimes we fail.”

Read the rest and find out more about the Kickstarter at Futurism.

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Abby Norman

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The neighborhood kids think I’m a witch. abbynormanwriter.com

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