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Those of us who live in this
amazing world of science

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and engineering have got
to pay more attention

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how to speak to the public.

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I am convinced one
approach is to embrace

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the value of the visual--
that when we find better

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vocabularies to express
complicated ideas,

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there will be less confusion
across the globe about how

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to make critical
decisions that will affect

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our health and our planet, to
educate all our cultures on how

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to distinguish between
opinion and fact.

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One approach is to engage the
public in our conversations.

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And we can do that creating
honest, accessible, compelling,

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even beautiful images
of our research

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so that our work will
become less intimidating,

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where your mother
or father will not

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be embarrassed to ask
questions about the images they

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see of your work.

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That's part of the
philosophy of this course,

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in case you didn't notice.

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But so much of what we do in our
labs is difficult to explain.

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So first, here's where
I'd like to briefly touch

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on the potential of
visual metaphors.

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For example, you've
seen this music box

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throughout this course.

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I made the image for our
book "No Small Matter"

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to engage the reader to
think about the language

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of computation, a binary
language, either on or off,

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as this music box's
clever system works.

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It's either one or zero.

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Take a good look
and think about it.

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Here's another one
of these metaphors

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along the same thinking of
explaining binary language.

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These are small drinking
glasses viewed from above.

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The ones filled with red
(good shiraz, by the way!)

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represent one in
this binary system.

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The empty glasses
represent zero.

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Again, for the book,
"No Small Matter."

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The first row across represents
12 in our everyday number

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system.

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If we add the second row, 22,
the result in the third row

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is 34.

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12 plus 22 equals 34.

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Here's another
you've seen before.

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We call it etching
with light, suggesting

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how some surfaces we work with
in the laboratory can be etched

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with various patterns.

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And here, this
cascade could suggest

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how the flow of electrons
change from one energy state

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to another.

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Here's one I think
that works quite well.

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These graduation chairs
are lined up basically

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to guide parents where to sit.

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It's a metaphor for
something called templated

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or guided self assembly.

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Just as when DNA replicates
itself, each of its strands

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guides the distribution of
bases for the new strand.

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Here's one that I
did love making,

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but maybe it doesn't
quite work enough.

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I wanted to show the
counterintuiveness

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of quantum mechanics.

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Now, look at the
shadow on the right.

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It doesn't make sense, right?

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In fact, that square
shadow is impossible.

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I made it with software.

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And so it is with quantum
mechanics-- so much

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of the quantum phenomena simply
just makes no sense at all.

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Here's one from
the Fermilab which

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I thought was quite clever.

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Take a guess at what this jelly
bean jar is metaphorically

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representing.

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Take a moment.

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And the fact that it's from
Fermilab is a big hint.

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So here's that information
in a pie chart--

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of course, more quantitative.

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We are seeing the distribution
of dark energy, dark matter,

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and everything else
in the universe.

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I think we pay more attention
to the jelly bean jar.

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Do you?

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What do you think?

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Now, none of these
visual metaphors

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work completely on their own.

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First, we need some
sort of text to help

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us look and think about it.

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And most important,
all metaphors

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fall apart at some point.

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And that conversation
of where they fall apart

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can be a powerful place
to talk about the science.

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I encourage you
to start thinking

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about creating metaphoric
photographs that

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teach the non-expert
how to start

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thinking about various
scientific phenomena.

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OK.

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Let's switch gears
and look at just a few

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simpler ways to engage the
public with our images.

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How about using some of
your new wonderful images

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of your work for cards, or
announcements, or posters?

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Could be fun thinking about it.

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The images you will begin
making after this course

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will be pretty compelling.

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I'm sure of it.

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Why not show them off outside
the research community?

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All I suggest is
to think about ways

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to incorporate some of
your amazing new images

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in ways to excite the public.

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And who knows?

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Someday, you might
even get an exhibit

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along the Champs-Elysees.

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What do you think?