New Concepts for Science and Technology
Museums
Lui LAM
Physics Department, San Jose State
University, San Jose, CA 95192-0106, USA, and China Research Institute for
Science Popularization, China Association for Science and Technology, Beijing,
China. Email: lui2002lam@yahoo.com
Since
science museums generally display their exhibits in compartmental arrangements,
there are two possible misconceptions imparted to the visitors: (1) there are
no unifying principles behind the different natural phenomena; (2) there is a
natural boundary separating the natural and social sciences. As a simple
remedy, it is proposed that before the exit of every science museum, there
should be a room or a space showing some established principles that are able
to unify many different phenomena found in nature, with examples taken from
both the natural and social sciences. Three such principles are fractals, chaos
and active walks.
1. Introduction
Science
museum (or science and technology museum) is an effective medium in helping the
public to understand science. In comparison with popular science books [1-3] or
TV science programs, museums are limited by their physical locations and large
budgets. Yet, when available these museums allow the public to see the real
objects, and, apart from admiring the wonders of nature itself, learn the
science principles behind some natural phenomena.
In China new science museums appeared
rapidly in the last 20 years. In other parts of the world, for example, in
Barcelona, Spain, a brand new science museum is under construction. There is no
doubt that the importance of science museums is well recognized.
The first step in making a good science
museum is to have good exhibits. The next step is to make it partially or
completely physically interactive. Almost all science museums stop here. This
could create a problem and is most unfortunate; most unfortunate because the
problem is easily removable. What is needed is a new concept.
2. Possible Misconceptions Imparted to the
Visitors
The
exhibits in all science museums are displayed according to their subject
matter, in other words, in compartments. For example, the exhibits may be put
into four divisions: the inanimate matters, life, intelligent matters, and
civilizations. This classification is according to the hierarchic construction
of the material world, as we know it. The world is made of atoms, and, in
increasing size, atoms form molecules, molecules form condensed
matter—inorganic matters and organic matters. Organic matters form living
matters—plants and animals. Animals consist of cells and organs. In particular,
we have human bodies. A group of humans form a society, leading to
civilizations. Consequently, the four divisions of the exhibits are logical and
there is nothing wrong with that. However, science museums with these
compartmental exhibits could create two misconceptions for the visitors.
(1)
The
visitor may leave with the impression that science is neatly divided into
compartments; that is, there is no unifying themes or principles behind many of
those exhibits.
(2)
Since
almost all science museums are limited to natural sciences only, the visitor
may go home thinking that there is a natural boundary separating the natural
sciences from the social sciences.
The fact
that social science should and can only be based on natural science [4-6] is
easy to see, but is sometimes overlooked. Social science is about the study of
human behaviors and human societies. Humans are (biological) material bodies
which, of course, is part of natural science since natural science is about all
material bodies.
3. A Simple Remedy
How can
these two misconceptions be avoided and corrected? Very simple. Before the exit
of every science museum, there should be a room or a space showing some
established principles that are able to unify many different phenomena found in
nature, with examples taken from both the natural and social sciences. There
are three such principles [7].
(1) Fractals—the
principle of self-similarity. Fractals are everywhere, ranging from the
morphology of tree leaves, rock formations, human blood vessels, to the stock
market indices and the structure of galaxies.
(2) Chaos—the
common (but not universal) phenomenon that the behavior of many nonlinear
systems depends sensitively on their initial conditions. Examples of chaos
include leaking faucets, convective liquids, human heart beats, planet motion
in the solar system, etc.
(3) Active
walks—a major principle that Mother Nature uses in self-organization.
Active walk is a paradigm introduced by the author in 1992 to handle complex systems [7,8]. In an active walk, a particle (the walker) changes a
deformable potential—the landscape—as it walks; its next step is influenced by
the changed landscape. For example, ants are living active walkers. When an ant
moves, it releases chemicals of a certain type and hence changes the spatial
distribution of the chemical concentration. It next step is moving towards
positions of higher chemical concentration. In this case, the chemical
distribution is the deformable landscape.
Active walk has been applied successfully to a number of complex systems coming from the natural and social sciences. Examples include pattern formation in physical, chemical and biological systems such as surface-reaction induced filaments and retinal neurons, the formation of fractal surfaces, anomalous ionic transport in glasses, granular matter, population dynamics, bacteria movements and pattern forming, food foraging of ants, spontaneous formation of human trails, oil recovery, river formation, city growth, economic systems, and, most recently, human history [4,5,9-11].
4.
Conclusion
It is gratifying to note that in some science museums in China [12,13] and perhaps elsewhere, some, but not all, of the unifying principles mentioned above have been included in their exhibits. However, there is still no emphasize on the theme that social sciences and natural sciences are an integral whole, and the former is based on the latter, with unifying principles [4-6].
Lastly, to have the greatest and lasting impact on the visitors, I still think that putting the unifying themes of all natural and social phenomena before the exit of a science museum is the best choice.
References
1. L. Lam, “Raising the Scientific Literacy of the Population: A Simple Tactic and a Global Strategy,” in Public Understanding of Science, edited by Editorial Committee (Science and Technology University of China Press, Hefei, 2001).
3.
L. Lam, “Integrating Popular Science
Books into College Science Teaching,” The Pantaneto Forum, Issue 19, 2005.
4.
L.
Lam, “Histophysics: A New Discipline,” Modern Physics Letters B, 16, 1163-1176 (2002).
5.
L.
Lam, “Active Walks: The First Twelve Years (Part II),”
International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, 16, xxx (2006).
6.
E.
O. Wilson, Consilience (Knopf, New York, 1998).
7.
L.
Lam, Nonlinear Physics for Beginners: Fractals, Chaos, Solitons, Pattern
Formation, Cellular Automata and Complex Systems (World Scientific,
Singapore, 1998).
8.
L.
Lam, “Active Walks: The First Twelve Years (Part I),”
International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, 15, 2317-2348 (2005).
9.
L.
Lam, “Histophysics: Merging Humanities with Science,” ScienceTimes (Beijing),
August 29, 2003.
10.
L. Lam, “Histophysics: Merging Humanity
with Science,” in On the Frontiers of Science,
Vol. 2, edited by G.
K. Liu (Tsinghua University Press and Interpress, Beijing, 2003).
11.
L. Lam, This Pale Blue Dot (Tamkang
University Press, Tamsui, 2004).
12.
“Science Tunnel” China Science and
Technology Museum Beijing, (http://old.shkp.org.cn/xinxi/suidao/shuidao003.htm).
13. Quansheng Ai, “A Standout Example in Science and Technology Musuems,” ScienceTimes (Beijing), February 13, 2004. (This article is an introduction to the Shandong Science and Technology Museum in Jinan.)
This
article, with updated references, was presented to the International Forum on
Scientific Literacy, Beijing, July
29-30, 2004
“公民科学素质建设国际论坛·北京”