Translator: Sierra Nave Reviewer: Darina Stoyanova
The first stars ignite in total darkness
over 13 billion years ago.
The left over core of a long dead star
ticks away in perfect rhythm.
Two galaxies collide.
The outer most layers
of a star's atmosphere
wind their way through a system.
A companion is pulled inevitably
into a black hole.
These are stories.
Stories revealed by science,
by physics and astronomy.
But these stories are told in essentially
a foreign language.
Galileo himself said,
"The book of nature is written
in mathematical characters."
Mathematics is the language
that scientists use to describe and
understand our universe,
the world around us.
And it's incredibly successful,
we've learned so much.
But if scientists are to share
what they've learned about the universe
with anyone else, with you
we need to translate.
We need to translate from the mathematics
into a language you can understand
and appreciate.
We need to be clever about it too.
So that we can bring science
to new audiences. So we can share
what we have learned about the universe
with new audiences.
In the past 10 months,
I have been working with
a very creative group of people
to do just that.
To translate science into
a brand new language.
And that language
is dance.
That's right, dance!
Moving your body to music, dance.
Don't worry, i'm not going to dance,
we have already had that.
I have been working with 7 dance companies
sharing with them what I know,
what I love about the universe,
sharing with them these stories.
Not to dictate their movements
but to inspire them.
To give those dancers and choreographers
a chance to take these stories that
we've learned in science
and reconstruct them,
re-tell them in their own way,
in a language that makes sense to them
the language of dance.
So that we can bring these stories
to new audiences. Audiences who may
not realize that they enjoy dance
because they have never been shared
science in a way they can enjoy.
But maybe they can go and see and enjoy
a professional, beautiful dance
performance and then, "Oh by the way",
you happen to learn a little bit about
the way the universe works.
Now this translation, from physics
to dance isn't perfect.
I mean what translation ever is?
But that's fine.
Because the point isn't to communicate
information.
Information is cheap and free and easy
to get. You can all pull out your phones
right now and get all the information
you want.
But all those facts and figures
and numbers and tables
and jargon filled websites,
they can't give you intuition.
They can't give you understanding.
They can't give you a sense of how
the world works.
Maybe dance can.
Maybe new languages can.
And there is a larger goal here
by creating these dialogues between
the science and the arts by building these
bridges we are finding out what they
have in common.
And there is this misconception that
the science and the arts are
completely separate.
That scientists have scientific mindsets
and artists have artistic mindsets
and they are nothing alike.
This isn't true!
This has never been true!
What is science?
Take away the mathematics,
take away the jargon,
take away the method, what is science?
It's curiosity.
Science is curiosity.
Scientists are people who are
curious about the way the world works.
The mathematics and the jargon
and the method, those are tools
to satisfy that curiosity
and we are all curious,
every one of us.
Curiosity is as natural and as human
as the desire to create art,
to create music, to create dance.
And while we may not all have the skills
or talents to become musicians or dancers
or artists or scientists,
we can all appreciate what
an artist creates, what a musician creates
what a dancer creates,
what a scientist discovers.
We can share in that curiosity.
We can have our curiosity awakened,
connected to, spoken to.
We can share in that joy of discovery,
in that pleasure of finding things out.
We can share in the beauty of the universe
as seen by a scientist.
By sharing these stories, by telling
these stories in new languages.
We can take these stories,
find metaphors, use them
to connect the science to us,
at an emotional level, a human level.
And there are beautiful stories to tell.
And powerful metaphors to use.
For example,
instead of the first stars, we can tell
the story of a revolution.
Instead of a neutron star,
isolated in space,
we can tell the story of
a lighthouse keeper, alone
in the night.
Instead of galaxies colliding, we have
a tragic love.
Instead of a planetary nebula,
we have an artist, awakening
for the first time.
Instead of a star being pulled
into a black hole,
we have a broken heart,
that can't let go.
These are stories.
Stories revealed by science
and told through the arts.
These are stories of our universe
that you deserve to hear.
Science isn't owned by scientists.
It's owned by you, all of you!
This is your universe too,
you live here, this is your home.
You deserve to know how your home works.
You deserve to have science communicated
to you in a way, shared with you in a way
that you can understand.
In a way that you can appreciate,
and enjoy.
In a way that compels you, that grabs you.
You deserve it.
Thank you.
(Applause)