Has science cracked the PR formula?

When did it become the norm, I have been wondering, to treat a scientific announcement like a glittering Hollywood film premiere?

The recent detection of gravitational waves by scientists at LIGO is a perfect example. An invitation to attend, a live webcast during the ‘event’, and slickly produced trailer videos – you’d be forgiven for thinking this was the West End screening of the latest blockbuster rather a scientific announcement.

And there has been a growing trend of this in recent years. The briefing from CERN showing evidence for the Higgs boson and NASA’s presentation of evidence for liquid water on Mars – each of them huge announcements. And each of them the very model of a modern major breakthrough – complete with teasing pre-announcements and a carefully orchestrated army of PRs on full charm offensive.

With recent blockbusters attempting to capture the majesty of scientific discovery (Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game) there is an undeniable relationship between Hollywood and science. A relationship that, as it turns out, is a reciprocal one – the huge PR machine often set in motion for these big science projects have most definitely taken a lead from show business. And if all this sounds like I am against the fuss – then I am guilty of expressing myself insufficiently. On the contrary, I don’t think it goes far enough.

A relationship that, as it turns out, is a reciprocal one – the huge PR machine often set in motion for these big science projects have most definitely taken a lead from show business.

LIGO is the most precise measuring device ever built. After a recent upgrade, it was tasked with detecting the effect of waves which equate to a movement of 1/1000th the width of a proton. In doing so it allowed physicists to detect two colliding black holes in the distant universe – an event which took place 1.3 billion years ago. In terms of the amount of investment required and the likelihood of success, this really was a scientific moon-shot. Oh, and in the process it just happened to confirm a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity.

So, if ever a fuss should be made, it is over this – especially given what this means for the future understanding of our universe. Up until now practically everything we know about cosmology has been gleaned using information from electromagnetic waves. Visible light, x-ray, radio, gamma – all of it electromagnetic in origin. With LIGO we can examine an entirely distinct set of waves which, just like their electromagnetic cousins, can give clues as to their origins and therefore the nature of the universe. LIGO has given us a whole new way to examine the universe.

While previously we could ‘see’, now we can ‘hear’ as well. And potentially, we could hear a lot. Neutron stars, black holes, supernova explosions and the mysterious cosmic strings – a huge richness of information about them all can now be tapped into. The importance of this really hits home when you realise just how much we have missed during our ‘deafness’. LIGO scientists say the recent detection arose from black holes converting about 3 times the mass of the sun into gravitational waves in a fraction of a second – with a peak power output of around 50 times that of the whole visible universe. It really is mind boggling.

It is, some have said, the biggest discovery in the last decade – and, given what the brilliant minds of CERN, NASA, ESA and many, many others have achieved in that time, that is saying a lot. And so what of the Hollywood style announcement? I say it is well deserved. All that was missing was the red carpet – and honestly I’m disappointed about that. It is the least the thousands of scientists and technical staff involved deserve. After all, if it’s good enough for Leo DiCaprio then it must be good enough for Kip Thorne.

Phil Prime

Editor