The first in an occasional series of postings contemplating some of the great witicisms and one liners on the subject of science (yes, there are some). Here are two for starters:

When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes. W. H. Auden

Before any scientists feel rather special after reading this, I think it relates rather well to a subject oft discussed on Nature Network – bad science communication. This can leave the listener feeling inadequate, like old W. H. But if it does, it’s the communicator who is in the wrong, not the listener.

I watched a piece last night on our local TV news about a new design of inhaler that uses technology based on the way puffball spores are dispersed. In the one clip where the scientist was allowed to speak he managed to squeeze in so many jargon words that his bit to camera did not move the story on one bit, apart from to make the viewer feel ‘he’s clever, isn’t he?’

Surely scientists should have got the message by now. Using big technical words doesn’t impress anyone, any more than Alan Sugar’s Rolls Royce. They’re both symbols of inadequacy.

Second quote:

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. Ernest Rutherford

Sorry, couldn’t resist this one given the high occurance of biology types on Nature Network. Next time you’re baffling me with your biology technology in-jokes, I shall mutter Rutherford’s remark with deep satisfaction.