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IFLScience (formerly I Fucking Love Science) is a popular-science media website and brand that publishes news and educational content on topics including physics, biology, astronomy, health, and the environment. Originally a Facebook page started by Elise Andrew in 2012, it subsequently developed into a professional news website with full time salaried staff.
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== History ==
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IFLScience began as a Facebook page called "I Fucking Love Science", created by Elise Andrew in March 2012. Though she had not intended it to grow beyond "posting to a few dozen of [her] friends", the page rapidly gained attention for its informal tone and shareable science facts. After the first day, the page had over 1,000 likes and passed 1 million likes in September 2012. Andrew stated that this work ultimately led LabX Media Group, a Canadian science-media publisher, to hire her as a social media content manager that same year. The next year, the website iflscience.com was launched to expand beyond social-media posts into longer-form articles and digital editorial content. By January 2015, the page's Facebook had risen to 19.5 million likes.
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In May 2020, Andrew renamed the company from "I Fucking Love Science" to "IFLScience", citing the swear word's incompatibility with Facebook's monetization systems, and saying that "much as I love the name, I love my staff more". LabX Media Group acquired then IFLScience in September that year.
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== Audience and reach ==
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According to its own "About" page, IFLScience "reaches over 10 million monthly global visitors through our website and 60 million globally through our social-media channels". Independent web analytics firm SEMrush reports that in September 2025 the site received about 7.12 million visits globally, about 78% of which were from the United States.
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== Content ==
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According to New York Magazine in 2016, the IFLScience Facebook page "often posts the type of viral science 'wins' that people love — cool pictures of space, crazy experiments, dinosaur discoveries".
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== Reception ==
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The European Union of Science Journalists' Associations stated in 2017 that IFLScience regularly achieved virality for their stories, which they said was known for "provoking headlines, short copy and rewriting of stories from other science media".
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Under the ownership of Elise Andrew, IFLScience was criticised for its use of clickbait headlines, of images without credit or without permission of their creators, and of out-of-context images that failed to support claims that IFLScience made in their captions. In 2014, an article by MIT's Knight Science Journalism, a program which seeks to "advance science journalism in the public interest," found that content appearing on IFLS was "error-prone" and that false and misleading statements remained even after editorial staff were alerted of the issues. The article ultimately asserted that when mistakes are pointed out "they are rarely corrected". New York magazine wrote in 2016 that "people who get most of their news filtered through IFLScience are often doing themselves a disservice, and when they share those posts, they're usually doing others a disservice as well", and the IFLScience Facebook page was "consistently criticized for willful misrepresentation of the science that it claims to 'fucking love'".
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In 2016, Time magazine quoted Andrew's response to criticism: "I'm not trying to teach people about science" and "I'm trying to give people that moment where they say, O.K., this is interesting, and I want to learn more".
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== Awards ==
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In 2014, IFLScience was nominated for and became a finalist in the 6th Annual Shorty Awards in the category of Science and in 2016, won the Science category at the 8th Shorty Awards. In 2023, Katy Evans, the managing editor of IFLScience, won the "editor of the year" award from the Association of British Science Writers.
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== References ==
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data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom-0.md
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Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas without restriction. Viewed as an integral component of a democratic society, intellectual freedom protects an individual's right to access, explore, consider, and express ideas and information as the basis for a self-governing, well-informed citizenry. Intellectual freedom comprises the bedrock for freedoms of expression, speech, and the press and relates to freedoms of information and the right to privacy.
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The United Nations upholds intellectual freedom as a basic human right through Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which asserts:
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Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
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The institution of libraries in particular values intellectual freedom as part of their mission to provide and protect access to information and ideas. The American Library Association (ALA) defines intellectual freedom as "the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement can be explored."
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The modern concept of intellectual freedom developed out of an opposition to book censorship. It is promoted by several professions and movements. These entities include, among others, librarianship, education, and the free software movement.
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== Issues ==
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Intellectual freedom encompasses many areas including issues of academic freedom, Internet filtering, and censorship. Because proponents of intellectual freedom value an individual's right to choose informational concepts and media to formulate thought and opinion without repercussion, restrictions to access and barriers to privacy of information constitute intellectual freedom issues.
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Issues surrounding restrictions to access include:
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banned books, book burning, and challenges to literature
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censorship and attempts to censor including, but not limited to book censorship, film censorship, censorship of music, censorship of maps, censorship of individual words, censorship of comic books, and video game censorship
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self-censorship by authors, editors, journalists, or library materials selectors
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internet filtering through content-control software
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internet filtering through internet censorship
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internet safety legislation and initiatives such as Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and Neighborhood Internet Protection Act (NCIPA)
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net neutrality
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government information and freedom of information laws
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Issues concerning barriers to privacy of information include:
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data mining
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surveillance
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data protection and information privacy laws and practices
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confidentiality of library users' records of access
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legislation that suspends civil liberties in the name of national security such as the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act
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While proponents of intellectual freedom work to prohibit acts of censorship, calls for censorship are valued as free speech. "In expressing their opinions and concerns, would-be censors are exercising the same rights librarians seek to protect when they confront censorship. In making their criticisms known, people who object to certain ideas are exercising the same rights as those who created and disseminated the material to which they object." The first amendment right to voice opinions and persuade others—both for the exclusion and inclusion of content and concepts—should be protected.
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== History ==
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The contemporary definition, limits, and inclusions of intellectual freedom primarily developed through a number of common law judgments by the United States Supreme Court regarding the First Amendment and policy statements of groups dedicated to the advocacy and defense of civil liberties.
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=== Abrams v. United States (1919) ===
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In his oft-quoted dissent on the free speech case of two defendants convicted of inciting anti-war sentiment and action, Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. aligns the freedoms of speech and expression with the freedom of thought as follows:
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Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical. If you have no doubt of your premises or your power and want a certain result with all your heart you naturally express your wishes in law and sweep away all opposition . . . But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas. . . The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes can be safely carried out."
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=== Whitney v. California (1927) ===
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A case in which the Supreme Court sustains the conviction of a woman for anti-government speech akin to terrorism. In his opinion on the matter, Justice Brandeis delineates the role of freedom of thought to inform free speech, attributing the value of intellectual freedom as a civil liberty to the founders of the United States, asserting:
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Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties. . . They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth.
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=== Olmstead v. United States (1928) ===
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A case in which the US Supreme Court deliberated whether a citizen's Fourth or Fifth Amendment rights were violated when evidence to convict him of bootlegging was obtained through wiretapping. Justice Brandeis provides precedence for the inclusion of intellectual freedom as a constitutional right in his dissenting opinion, claiming the US Constitution's authors "recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, his feelings, and his intellect" and "sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations." Brandeis would ultimately argue for the right to privacy, another important dimension of intellectual freedom, as an extension of American civil rights.
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=== United States v. Schwimmer (1929) ===
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In the Supreme Court's upheld decision to deny citizenship to Rosika Schwimmer, a Hungarian immigrant, because she refused to pledge to take up arms to defend the United States out of her pacifist views and beliefs, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. personally disagrees with the defendant's views but professionally upholds Schwimmer's position when he writes,
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Some of her answers might excite popular prejudice, but if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought – not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate.
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=== Library Bill of Rights (1939) ===
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The American Library Association adopts the Library Bill of Rights affirming "that all libraries are forums for information and ideas." Originally a three-point declaration to guide services in American free public libraries including statements on "growing intolerance, suppression of free speech, and censorship," today the Library Bill of Rights includes six basic policies to guide library services that affirm intellectual freedom.
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=== Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) ===
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Following World War II, the United Nations adopts The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a "foundation of human rights law" consisting of 30 articles on international freedoms among the nations of the UN General Assembly. Articles 18 and 19 specifically affirm rights to freedoms of thought, opinion, and expression, as well as the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
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=== Lauterbach Award acceptance speech (1953) ===
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In his 1953 acceptance speech for the Lauterbach Award for support of civil liberties, Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas affirms that "safety of our civilization lies in making freedom of thought and freedom of speech vital, vivid features of life" and condemns "[r]estriction of free thought and free speech," labeling it "the most dangerous of all subversions," and an "un-American act."
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=== The Freedom to Read (1953) ===
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The American Library Association adopts The Freedom to Read, a key library policy endorsing an individual's civil rights to free expression and intellectual freedom through the exchange of ideas through reading and writing. The ALA's The Freedom to Read includes seven affirmations and responsibilities to protect an individual's right to read as a basic tenet of democracy. In 1979, the ALA expands upon The Freedom to Read, adopting The Freedom to View, a policy which extends the understanding of intellectual freedom to include the visual acquisition of information through visual media such as art, video, movies, pictures, the internet, and more.
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=== Brandenburg v Ohio (1969) ===
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A case in which the US Supreme Court established the Imminent Lawless Action standard. The Supreme Court overturned KKK leader, Clarence Brandenburg's conviction of one to ten years in prison and a fine of $1000 sentenced by the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County. The Court ruled that hate speech is protected under First Amendment rights as long as it does not incite violence. This ruling established the modern doctrine of clear and present danger which determines what limits may be placed on First Amendment freedoms. Only speech that directly incites lawless action may be restricted.
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== Intellectual freedom and librarianship ==
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The profession of librarianship views intellectual freedom as a core responsibility. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' (IFLA) Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom "calls upon libraries and library staff to adhere to the principles of intellectual freedom, uninhibited access to information and freedom of expression and to recognize the privacy of library user." IFLA urges its members to actively promote the acceptance and realization of intellectual freedom principles. IFLA states: "The right to know is a requirement for freedom of thought and conscience; freedom of thought and freedom of expression are necessary conditions for freedom of access to information."
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Individual national library associations expand upon these principles when defining intellectual freedom for their constituents. For example, the American Library Association defines intellectual freedom as: "[T]he right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. .... Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas."
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The Canadian Library Association's Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom states that all persons possess "the fundamental right ... to have access to all expressions of knowledge, creativity and intellectual activity, and to express their thoughts publicly." This right was enshrined into law in 2004 in British Columbia, which grants protection against litigation for libraries for their holdings.
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Many other national library associations have similarly adopted statements on intellectual freedom.
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The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom organizes the relationship between librarianship and intellectual freedom into five distinct categories:
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The library user's access to information through a library collection
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The librarian's professional responsibilities to select a diverse collection of library materials for users and protect library users' confidentiality and rights to privacy in their use of library materials
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The librarian's personal rights to free expression and choices of lifestyle and public participation without professional repercussion
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The library's institutional role as an agent of social change, democracy, and education
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The issue of advocacy v. neutrality for libraries and librarians
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Libraries protect, defend, and advocate for intellectual freedom through a variety of organizations and resources.
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=== Intellectual Freedom Committee ===
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The Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) is a council committee of the American Library Association (ALA), composed of 11 ALA members who are appointed by ALA's Council to serve 2-year terms. The Intellectual Freedom Committee functions as an advisory and educational arm of the ALA's commitment to intellectual freedom. The IFC recommends policies concerning intellectual freedom and censorship, drafts guidelines for library professionals to advocate and defend intellectual freedom including The Universal Right to Free Expression and Importance of Education to Intellectual Freedom, and drafts policy statements adopted by the ALA including several interpretation statements on the Library Bill of Rights such as:
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Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks
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Access to Library Resources and Services Regardless of Gender or Sexual Orientation
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Free Access to Libraries for Minors
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Prisoners' Right to Read
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Statement on Library Use of Filtering Software
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The IFC drafts and submits statements to the ALA as part of the committee's charge to "recommend such steps as may be necessary to safeguard the rights of library users, libraries, and librarians, in accordance with the first amendment to the united states constitution and the Library Bill of Rights as adopted by the ALA Council [and] work closely with the Office for Intellectual Freedom and with other units and officers of the association in matters touching intellectual freedom and censorship."
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Formed in 1940 and originally titled 'Committee on Intellectual Freedom to Safeguard the Rights of Library Users to Freedom of Inquiry,' the committee has also been known as 'Committee on Intellectual Freedom' before the currently titled 'Intellectual Freedom Committee.' Following the ALA's formation of the IFC to promote intellectual freedom on a national level, many regional and state library associations have established additional intellectual freedom committees on the state level.
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=== Office for Intellectual Freedom ===
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The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) serves as an administrative arm of ALA committees such as the Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Committee on Professional Ethics. Principally charged with implementing ALA policies concerning intellectual freedom, the OIF focuses efforts on intellectual freedom education and coordination of intellectual freedom activities, events, and organizations and views the "responsibility of the office to recommend, develop, implement, and maintain a total intellectual freedom program for ALA.
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OIF functions include:
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Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read sponsored by publishing, bookselling, civil rights, teaching, and library organizations associated with intellectual freedom.
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Choose Privacy Week, an annual event that promotes conversation and provides resources for individuals to think more critically about digital-age privacy rights. The OIF partners with many national coalitions focused upon digital rights and privacy such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR), the Center For Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC).
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Frequently Challenged Books List, a database of challenged materials collected from news reports and individuals (often through the OIF's electronic Challenge Reporting Form. Although the database provides information on banned books, challenged books, frequently challenged authors, and challenged classics since 1990, the OIF asserts that they "do not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges as research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five that go unreported."
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Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom (NIF), a bimonthly digital publication serving as "the only journal that reports attempts to remove materials from school and library shelves across the country."
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Intellectual Freedom Action Network (IFAN), an ad hoc, grassroots group of volunteers who liaison between the national efforts of the OIF and intellectual freedom issues within members' communities. IFAN members monitor censorship issues in their communities and lend support to anti-censorship and intellectual freedom instances through civic involvement such as letters to the editor or political representatives and/or attendance at public meetings and hearings concerning intellectual freedom.
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IFACTION, an e-list education forum on intellectual freedom issues and concepts that replaced the OIF's former print newsletter, Intellectual Freedom News.
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Webinars, including a sizable archive of webinars concerning intellectual freedom issues.
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=== Intellectual Freedom Round Table ===
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The ALA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) functions as a forum for ALA members to participate in intellectual freedom initiatives and efforts. The IFRT serves as a communication channel and promotional group for ALA members seeking increasing participation and knowledge in intellectual freedom concepts and issues. While the IFRT mirrors other intellectual freedom organizations through monitoring, support, and educational efforts, the IFRT provides more varied intellectual freedom discussion forums for librarians in two ways:
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Organizing state and local level intellectual freedom discussion programs and activities
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Planning and sponsoring conference programs on topics related to intellectual freedom
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In addition to encouraging and fostering a community of librarians learning, promoting, and defending intellectual freedom principles, the IFRT administers three intellectual freedom awards (see below) and produces an Intellectual Freedom Report to members of the American Library Association four times per year.
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=== Freedom to Read Foundation ===
|
||||
The Freedom to Read Foundation was incorporated in 1969 by members of the American Library Association. Although founded by ALA members, the FTRF is a separate organization from ALA with separate membership focused upon the legal defense of intellectual freedom for libraries, librarians, library staff, and library trustees. While the FTRF participates in intellectual freedom education efforts, the FTRF primarily aims to "support and defend librarians whose positions are jeopardized because of their resistance to abridgments of the First Amendment; and to set legal precedent for the freedom to read on behalf of all the people." In the foundation's commitment to "the principle that the solution to offensive speech is more speech, and the suppression of speech on the grounds that it gives offense to some infringes on the rights of all to a free, open and robust marketplace of ideas," the FTRF awards and distributes grants to aid intellectual freedom litigation, directly participates as a party to intellectual freedom litigation, and submits amicus curiae briefs in freedom of speech and freedom of the press cases. FTRF assistance to library staff whose jobs have been jeopardized due to their defense of intellectual freedom "attempts to obviate the choice between upholding intellectual freedom principles and" what lauded librarian and library-science scholar Lester Asheim called "three square meals a day."
|
||||
The organization's charter describes four purposes for the Foundation, including:
|
||||
|
||||
Promoting and protecting the freedom of speech and of the press;
|
||||
Protecting the public's right of access to information and materials stored in the nation's libraries;
|
||||
Safeguarding libraries' right to disseminate all materials contained in their collections; and
|
||||
Supporting libraries and librarians in their defense of First Amendment rights by supplying them with legal counsel or the means to secure it.
|
||||
|
||||
=== LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund ===
|
||||
The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund provides financial assistance to librarians who are:
|
||||
|
||||
"Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, age, disability, or place of national origin; or
|
||||
Denied employment rights because of defense of intellectual freedom; that is, threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the freedom of librarians to select items for their collections from all the world’s written and recorded information, and defense of privacy rights."
|
||||
Originally established by the Freedom to Read Foundation in 1970, the Merritt Fund now functions independently, governed by three trustees elected by donors to the fund. The fund's namesake LeRoy C. Merritt participated in the defense and advocacy of intellectual freedom throughout his life in a variety of ways including authoring numerous intellectual freedom and anti-censorship books and articles, editing the ALA's Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom from 1962 to 1970, as the first recipient of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, and, donating the entirety of the Downs prize to the Freedom to Read Foundation, as the FTRF's first benefactor.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Intellectual Freedom Manual ===
|
||||
The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes the Intellectual Freedom Manual, now in its ninth edition. Considered an authoritative resource on intellectual freedom for library professionals, it is also of use to members of the public who wish to stay informed of the most recent policies and developments in the field. As well as providing an historical overview of the topic, it is divided into parts which cover key issues such as the Library Bill of Rights, protecting the freedom to read, intellectual freedom and the law, and preserving, protecting and working for intellectual freedom. Expanding on the new addition to the manual is the section on Privacy; an Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights
|
||||
|
||||
=== Collaboration between associated organizations ===
|
||||
Many of the entities listed above collaborate with one another and other organizations including:
|
||||
|
||||
Association of American Publishers
|
||||
American Booksellers Association
|
||||
American Booksellers Association for Free Expression
|
||||
Center for Democracy and Technology
|
||||
Internet Education Foundation
|
||||
Media Coalition
|
||||
National Coalition Against Censorship
|
||||
PEN American Center
|
||||
state and regional First Amendment organizations
|
||||
state library association intellectual freedom committees
|
||||
intellectual freedom coalitions
|
||||
|
||||
== Intellectual Freedom Awards ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award ===
|
||||
Since 1969, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois annually awards the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award. GSLIS faculty named this award for Robert B. Downs on his 25th anniversary as director of the School in honor of his role as a champion for intellectual freedom. Downs, also a former president and vice-president of the ALA, focused his library career working against, and voicing opposition to, literary censorship and authored many books and publications on topics of censorship and intellectual freedom. Awarded to acknowledge individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom in libraries, the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is "[g]ranted to those who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice, the award may be in recognition of a particular action or long-term interest in, and dedication to, the cause of intellectual freedom."
|
||||
|
||||
=== Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award ===
|
||||
Since 1986, the American Library Association Intellectual Freedom Round Table biennially sponsors the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award. Consisting of a $500 prize and certificate, the award acknowledges "the best published work in the area of intellectual freedom." The IFRT posthumously named this award for Eli M. Oboler, a former Idaho State University librarian known as a “champion of intellectual freedom who demanded the dismantling of all barriers to freedom of expression.” Oboler, also a former member and officer in numerous intellectual freedom organizations including the Intellectual Freedom Round Table, the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and the Idaho Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, authored over 200 publications, many on censorship and intellectual freedom, including:
|
||||
37
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom-4.md
Normal file
37
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom-4.md
Normal file
@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Intellectual freedom"
|
||||
chunk: 5/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:50.358602+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Fear of the Word: Censorship and Sex. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
|
||||
Ideas and the University Library: Essays of an Unorthodox Academic Librarian. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977.
|
||||
Defending Intellectual Freedom: The Library and the Censor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.
|
||||
To Free the Mind: Libraries, Technology, and Intellectual Freedom. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1983."
|
||||
Awarded to acknowledge authorship in the area of intellectual freedom, the IFRT considers "single articles (including review pieces), a series of thematically connected articles, books, or manuals published on the local, state or national level in English or English translation" for receipt of the Eli M. Oboler Award.
|
||||
|
||||
=== John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award ===
|
||||
Since 1976, the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table annually sponsors the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award. Consisting of a $500 prize and a citation, the award "honors the courage, dedication, and contribution of a living individual, group, or organization who has set the finest kind of example for the defense and furtherance of the principles of intellectual freedom." Upon his death in 1979, the award was renamed for John Phillip Immroth, the founder and first Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table. The Immroth award differs from other intellectual freedom awards in that it recognizes "extraordinary personal courage in the defense of intellectual freedom."
|
||||
|
||||
=== Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award ===
|
||||
Since 1984, the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table annually sponsors a regional intellectual freedom award, currently named the Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award. Consisting of a $1000 prize and citation, the award "recognizes an intellectual freedom focused organization that has developed a strong multi-year, ongoing program or a single, one-year project that exemplifies support for intellectual freedom, patron confidentiality, and anti-censorship efforts." The IFRT posthumously named this award for Gerald Hodges, a longtime ALA officer who devoted his library career to his passion for both intellectual freedom and chapter relations until his death in 2006. In 2010 the Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Award replaced the IFRT State and Regional Intellectual Freedom Achievement Award which had been annually awarded "to the most innovative and effective intellectual freedom project covering a state or region."
|
||||
|
||||
=== AASL Intellectual Freedom Award ===
|
||||
Since 1982, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the ALA, annually awards the Intellectual Freedom Award. Consisting of a $2000 prize to the recipient and a $1000 prize to the school library program of the recipient's choice, the award honors a school librarian "for upholding the principles of intellectual freedom as set forth by the American Association of School Librarians and the American Library Association."
|
||||
|
||||
=== Gordon M. Conable Award ===
|
||||
Since 2007, the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the ALA, annually awards the Gordon M. Conable Award. Consisting of a $1500 prize and commemorative plaque, the award "honors a public library staff member, a library trustee, or a public library that has demonstrated a commitment to intellectual freedom and the Library Bill of Rights."
|
||||
|
||||
== Intellectual freedom under authoritarian rule ==
|
||||
Intellectual freedom is often suppressed under authoritarian rule and such governments often claim to have nominal intellectual freedom, although the degree of freedom is a matter of dispute. The former USSR, for example, claimed to provide intellectual freedom, but some analysts in the West have stated that the degree of intellectual freedom was nominal at best.
|
||||
|
||||
== Intellectual freedom in democratic countries during times of crises ==
|
||||
During times of crises there is often debate within democratic countries as to the balance between national security, a successful conclusion to the crises and the maintenance of democratic civil liberties. This debate often takes the form of to what extent a democratic government can curtail civil liberties in the interest of successfully ending the crises.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Canada ===
|
||||
Such a debate existed in Canada during the Second World War. Since the First World War the War Measures Act had existed as legislation in Canada to allow the government to operate with greater powers during times of national crises, such as in wartime. During the Second World War the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King enacted the measure by Order-in-Council. The War Measures Act and with it the Defence of Canada Regulations were passed by the federal government in early September 1939. With their implementation civil liberties, especially the intellectual freedom of political dissenters, were curtailed. As well, in Quebec the Union Nationale government of Premier Maurice Duplessis enacted “An Act Respecting Communist Propaganda”, which came to be known as the Padlock Act. It gave Premier Duplesis, as Attorney General of Quebec, the power to close (hence padlock) any premises used for the purposes of “propagating Communism or Bolshevism.” The Act was criticized by Eugene Forsey, for example, as being far too broad in definition and that it gave the Premier the power to suppress any opinions that he wished to. Forsey cited examples of such abuse in the Canadian Forum.
|
||||
All of these measures were criticized by writers in the Canadian Forum such as Eugene Forsey and Frank R. Scott and by the League for Social Reconstruction in general; a group to which both Forsey and Scott belonged. Indeed, during the Second World War the Canadian Forum printed an anonymous monthly column outlining civil liberties abuses by Canadian authorities.
|
||||
37
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom-5.md
Normal file
37
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom-5.md
Normal file
@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Intellectual freedom"
|
||||
chunk: 6/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:50.358602+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== United States ===
|
||||
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks issues concerning the suspension or reduction of civil liberties in the name of national security have arisen. Legislation such as the Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 and the USA PATRIOT Act (often shortened to the Patriot Act) of 2001 encroach upon intellectual freedom rights to privacy and freedom of information to enhance domestic security from potential terrorist threats and acts.
|
||||
The Patriot Act in particular has come under fire from numerous intellectual freedom organizations. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has criticized the Patriot Act as unconstitutional, especially when "the private communications of law-abiding American citizens might be intercepted incidentally," Additionally, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) maintains that the lower standard applied to wiretaps "gives the FBI a 'blank check' to violate the communications privacy of countless innocent Americans". The American Library Association (ALA) has partnered with American libraries in opposition to a provision in Section 215 which allows the FBI to apply for an order to produce materials that assist in an investigation undertaken to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. The "tangible things" that can be targeted include "books, records, papers, documents, and other items".
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
Academic freedom
|
||||
Censorship
|
||||
Cognitive liberty
|
||||
Freedom of thought
|
||||
Information wants to be free
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
== Further reading ==
|
||||
Alfino, Mark and Laura Koltutsky. The Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom: Concepts, Cases, and Theories. (Sacramento: Library Juice Press, 2014). ISBN 978-1-936117-57-4.
|
||||
Dix, W. S. (1954). Freedom of communications: Proceedings of the first conference on intellectual freedom, New York City, June 28–29, 1952. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
|
||||
Lewis, Anthony. Freedom for the Thought We Hate. (New York: Basic Books, 2007). ISBN 0-465-03917-0.
|
||||
Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Intellectual Freedom Manual, 8th ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 2010). ISBN 978-0-8389-3590-3.
|
||||
Robbins, Louise S. Censorship and the American Library: The American Library Association's Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom 1939-1969. (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996). ISBN 0-313-29644-8.
|
||||
Sakharov, Andrei, Progress, Coëxistence, and Intellectual Freedom. Trans. by [staff of] The New York Times; with introd., afterword, and notes by Harrison E. Salisbury. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1968).
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
|
||||
Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Wayback Machine (archived 2014-12-08)
|
||||
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-02-07)
|
||||
Canadian Library Association Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-03-03)
|
||||
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Collection of Statements on Intellectual Freedom adopted by National Library Associations at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2013-12-05)
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development"
|
||||
chunk: 1/1
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Centre_for_Integrated_Mountain_Development"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:51.564298+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre founded in 1983, serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The HKH region is a vast area, encompassing mountain ranges stretching from the Hindu Kush range in northern Afghanistan to the Arakan range in Myanmar, with the Himalayan range as its spine, and also includes the Tibetan Plateau. ICIMOD's mission is to promote partnerships amongst the regional member countries to secure a better future for the people and environment of the region.
|
||||
|
||||
ICIMOD is headquartered at Khumaltar in the city of Lalitpur, located in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. At Godavari in Lalitpur, ICIMOD has a Knowledge Park which exhibits some applications of ICIMOD's theoretical and field research. In addition, ICIMOD has country offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan. ICIMOD's partner organisations include national and international scientific institutions, government agencies, donor agencies, and the private sector, both within the region and outside.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Origins ===
|
||||
In December 1974, the idea of creating an institution to promote the ecologically sound development of mountainous regions was discussed at the International Workshop on the Development of Mountain Environment in Munich, German. In 1979 concrete commitments were made to establish the centre during a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Regional Meeting in Kathmandu, under the framework of the Man and Biosphere Programme. The Japanese organization Institute for Himalayan Conservation, established by Jiro Kawakita, also sent a statement of intent for the establishment of ICIMOD to the Nepal government and the Man and Biosphere Programme of UNESCO. The Government of Nepal offered to host the new institution, and the Governments of Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany and UNESCO agreed to act as the founding sponsors. His Majesty's Government of Nepal and UNESCO signed the agreement that provided the legal basis for establishing the Centre in September 1981 in Paris. The centre was finally established and inaugurated on 5 December 1983 with its headquarters in Lalitpur, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal in the same year.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Headquarters ===
|
||||
For the first 20 years, i.e. from late 1983 till late 2004, ICIMOD was based at a rented premises in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur. On 5 December 2004, the 21st anniversary of ICIMOD, a new headquarters for ICIMOD was inaugurated by King Gyanendra of Nepal at Khumaltar, Lalitpur. The 1.5 hectares for this headquarters campus, worth over US$1 million, were contributed by the Government of Nepal. The governments of China and India contributed US$100,000 each, for the construction of the new headquarters. The government of Pakistan committed US$100,000 for its construction. The government of Bangladesh contributed US$28,300, including a Bangladesh pavilion in the campus. The government of Bhutan contributed in kind, in the form of a Bhutan pavilion in the campus. In the earthquake of 25 April 2015 in Nepal, the headquarters received minor damages, but the Bhutan pavilion completely collapsed. The pavilion was subsequently rebuilt and re-inaugurated in 2016.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Directors/Director Generals of ICIMOD ===
|
||||
Since its inception, ICIMOD has been headed by a male Director General. The first head of ICIMOD, Kenneth Colin Rosser, was designated as the 'Director' of ICIMOD and all subsequent heads have been designated as the 'Director Generals'. From 1984 until 2020, these Directors were from a country outside the Himalaya region. So far, all the Director Generals of ICIMOD have been men.
|
||||
Following is a list of the Director Generals of ICIMOD until the present:
|
||||
|
||||
Kenneth Colin Rosser, from the United Kingdom (1984–1989)
|
||||
E.F. Tacke, from the Federal Republic of Germany (1989–1994)
|
||||
Egbert Pelinck, from the Netherlands (1994–2000)
|
||||
Gabriel Campbell, from the United States of America (2000–2007)
|
||||
Andreas Schild, from Switzerland (2007–2011)
|
||||
David Molden, from the United States of America (2011–2020)
|
||||
Pema Gyamtsho, from the Kingdom of Bhutan (2020–present)
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Organisational structure ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Board of Governors ===
|
||||
The highest governing body of ICIMOD is its Board of Governors, which consists of one high-ranking state official from each of its eight regional member countries, and independent members who are nominated by the ICIMOD Support Group based on their recognized professional expertise and experience. The ICIMOD Support Group consists of representatives from among the organizations and institutions that provide financial contributions to ICIMOD.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Funding ===
|
||||
The programmes and activities of ICIMOD are supported by long-term sponsors, who provide funding to the institution. These include the governments of all the eight RMCs, and the governments of Australia, Austria, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. Programme donors include the ADA (Austria), BMZ and BMU (Germany), the UK govt, the EU, SIDA (Sweden), IDRC (Canada), IFAD, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and USAID.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Regional Programmes ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Earth Observation Science at ICIMOD ===
|
||||
ICIMOD actively uses earth observation science and applications for environmental management, disaster risk reduction, and enhanced resilience in the HKH region. Several ICIMOD researchers are involved in their research in different topics of earth observation science. Among the different remote sensing work, the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS) is most mentionable as that provides a series of 30-m resolution annual land cover maps with harmonized land cover data for the years 2000–2018. These regional land cover maps are highly consistent and are designed to serve explicit user-defined objectives. Besides that, ICIMOD is involved in rapid mapping of flood inundation for the Koshi river basin, Bangladesh, Nepal, soil erosion and sedimentation yield spatial distribution and many more mapping activities for the regions.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Reception ==
|
||||
Immediately after the April 2015 Nepal Earthquake, scientists at ICIMOD began supporting rescue and relief efforts by closely monitoring landslides, glacier lakes and dammed rivers through the analyses of satellite images, and providing the latest information to the Nepalese government and relief agencies. ICIMOD scientists also worked with traffic controllers at the Tribhuvan International airport, Kathmandu, by providing assistance to assess weather and terrain conditions. Teams of volunteers from ICIMOD went to aid relief efforts in villages nearby ICIMOD and Kathmandu.
|
||||
A 2021 case study from the World Bank commented on ICIMOD's role as an apolitical intergovernmental platform:
|
||||
|
||||
In the Himalayas – where national interests are often seen as contradictory to regional interests – regional institutions are forced to devote considerable effort to making their case. ICIMOD's story demonstrates useful methods of achieving this objective: proactive engagement with political constituencies; efforts at reputation building through research to earn a place in likeminded global and regional networks; and hiring recognized subject experts to carry the institutional flag. These efforts are still a work in progress at ICIMOD, but they seem to be producing results.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
ICIMOD people
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
ICIMOD Homepage
|
||||
ICIMOD Publications
|
||||
ICIMOD Data sets
|
||||
35
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Pre-Scientist-0.md
Normal file
35
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Pre-Scientist-0.md
Normal file
@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Letters to a Pre-Scientist"
|
||||
chunk: 1/1
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Pre-Scientist"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:52.781755+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Letters to a Pre-Scientist (LPS) is a STEM education pen pal program that connects fifth to twelfth grade students in low-income schools with STEM professional volunteers, who write snail mail letters back and forth throughout a school year. The program’s mission is to help students of all backgrounds see themselves as future STEM professionals. As of 2021, the program has reached over 6,000 students in schools across 13 states.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
Founder Macon Lowman created an informal version of the program in 2010 to help her sixth grade science students connect what they were learning in class to the real world. Together with scientist and co-founder Anna Goldstein, they recruited enough STEM professional pen pals for every student in her class.
|
||||
In 2014, the program expanded to 3 classrooms and has continued to grow, running in 24 classrooms in the 2019-2020 school year. Although the program only runs in U.S. classrooms, STEM professionals living anywhere in the world can participate.
|
||||
The Letters to a Pre-Scientist program became a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, under the official name Pre-Scientist, Inc. in 2019.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Partnerships ==
|
||||
Letters to a Pre-Scientist partnered with Arab Women in STEM during the 2020-2021 school year to increase the representation of Arab women in STEM in their volunteer network and translate program materials into Arabic so students could participate in their native language.
|
||||
During the 2021-2022 school year, Letters to a Pre-Scientist partnered with Black in Neuro to match a predominantly Black sixth grade class in Ohio with predominantly Black neuroscientist pen pals.
|
||||
Additionally, LPS partnered with Queer Engineer to increase representation of STEM professionals who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community in their pen pal network and increase the organization’s capacity to support students, teachers, and STEM pen pals with conversations about LGBTQIA+ related topics.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Recognition and Funders ==
|
||||
In 2018, LPS was one of the top 10 nominees for the Nature Research Innovating Science Award.
|
||||
In 2021, LPS joined the Science Sandbox community of awardees funded by the Simons Foundation.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
Official website
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "National Council for Science and Technology Communication"
|
||||
chunk: 1/1
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Council_for_Science_and_Technology_Communication"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:54.032833+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) is a scientific programme of the Government of India for the popularisation of science, dissemination of scientific knowledge and inculcation of scientific temper. Established under the Department of Science and Technology, it "is mandated to communicate Science and Technology to masses, stimulate scientific and technological temper and coordinate and orchestrate such efforts throughout the country." Following the science communication plan introduced in the Sixth Five-Year Plan of India, NCSTC was established in 1982.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Objectives ==
|
||||
NCSTC has three major objectives:
|
||||
|
||||
For developing a building capacity for informed decision and promote scientific thinking to the Indian communities.
|
||||
For the development of society using scientific knowledge and organise programmes using different media to reach every citizen.
|
||||
To conduct outreach activities, including training in science and technology communication, awareness programmes, dissemination of scientific knowledge, award incentives, promote scientific research, develop international co-operation, while providing special attention to women.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
The Government of India in its Sixth Five-Year Plan in 1980 introduced an elaborate scheme for the promotion of science and technology. It constituted a Cabinet Committee on Science and Technology (CCST) on 3 March 1981. Chaired by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the committee created Science Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SACC). Following the proposals by SACC, three scientific bodies were established in 1982:
|
||||
|
||||
National Biotechnology Board (NBTB) for the development applications of biotechnology such as agriculture, medicine and industry.
|
||||
National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) to promote employment among people in science and technology.
|
||||
National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) for popularisation and development of scientific temper among the people.
|
||||
The council officially started functioning in 1984. As its first major activity, NCSTC organised the first national science festival of India named Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha (Life of Science in India) in 1987.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Activities ==
|
||||
The major activities of NCSTC are organising:
|
||||
|
||||
Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, held in 1987 and 1992 in which science educators visit in villages to spread scientific awareness. It is considered as "the biggest science communication experiment anywhere in the world."
|
||||
National Children's Science Congress, an annual conference started in 1993 to develop and promote scientific knowledge among children of 10-17 years of age.
|
||||
National Science Day, held every year on 28 February, a nation-wide observation of the day of discovery of the Raman effect in 1928.
|
||||
National Teachers’ Science Congress (NTSC), a biennial conference for science teachers and scientists, started in 2003.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Awards ===
|
||||
The council gives the following awards to science students, teachers and populisers on National Science Day:
|
||||
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science and Technology Communication through Innovative and Traditional Methods, which carries INR 200,000.
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science and Technology Communication through Print Media including Books and Magazines, which carries INR 100,000.
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science and Technology Popularization among Children, which carries INR 100,000.
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Translation of Popular Science and Technology Literature, which carries INR 100,000.
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science and Technology Communication in the Print Medium, which carries INR 100,000.
|
||||
National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science and Technology Communication in the Electronic Medium, which carries INR 100,000.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Natural frequency (statistics)"
|
||||
chunk: 1/1
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_frequency_(statistics)"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:55.301238+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A common question in medicine is how likely it is that someone has a disease when they get a 'positive' test result. Because some people without the disease also test positive, not everyone who tests positive has the disease. Expressing the probabilities using natural frequencies – absolute counts from a sample showing the joint probabilities (disease x test result) – makes the question easier to answer. For example, by stating that 100 out of 10,000 women have breast cancer, 90 out of 100 with breast cancer have a positive mammogram and 990 out of 9,900 without breast cancer have a positive mammogram.
|
||||
In contrast, people struggle when you give the same information as conditional probabilities. That is, when they are given information in a format like this: 80% of women with breast cancer test positive on a mammogram, whereas 9.6% of healthy women also get a positive test (false positive). One percent of women has breast cancer. People often neglect the base rate of people with breast cancer when given this information (base rate fallacy), leading them to overestimate how likely it is someone has the disease given a positive test result.
|
||||
In one study, only 6% of medical students could resolve the above question when given probabilities. When the information was presented in natural frequencies instead, 42% gave the correct answer. The students were also twice as fast when using natural frequencies, compared to receiving the information as conditional probabilities. Students who received a visualisation of either were more accurate than students who got textual information. Similarly, another study found that gynaecologists strongly overestimated the chance someone has breast cancer after a positive mammogram.
|
||||
Similarly, when judging DNA evidence in legal contexts, natural frequencies help improve decisions. DNA evidence is not 100% certain, mostly because there is a small chance of a lab error. When provided with natural frequencies, hypothetical jurors made fewer mistakes interpreting DNA evidence, leading to fewer guilty verdicts.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
Bayesian reasoning
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
32
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||||
---
|
||||
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
|
||||
chunk: 1/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Notre Dame QuarkNet Center at the University of Notre Dame was established in 1999. QuarkNet is a nation-wide program that pairs university faculty with high school teachers and students to perform summer research related to physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biology. Along with Notre Dame, QuarkNet centers are sponsored by dozens of other universities. The Notre Dame QuarkNet Center is regarded as a flagship center for the program. The program was started by particle physicists associated with Fermilab in Illinois and CERN in Switzerland and has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Energy (DoE).
|
||||
|
||||
== 1997 to early 2000s ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Randal Ruchti and Patrick Mooney ===
|
||||
In 1997, professor Randal Ruchti of the University of Notre Dame began efforts to teach particle physics to local high school students in the South Bend, Indiana community. In particular, he wanted to link students to experiments being conducted at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. Ruchti had also been selected as a United States educator coordinator for the LHC. Ruchti engaged young people with demonstrations at the annual Science Alive event hosted by the South Bend Public Library. Ruchti approached a former Physics graduate student, Patrick Mooney of the Trinity School at Greenlawn, about starting science outreach at Trinity and eventually the greater community. Ruchti and Mooney had worked on the D-Zero project that discovered the top quark at Fermilab in 1995. Mooney stated "We want to see if we can forge some cooperative effort that will fit into the high school's program". These early efforts of Ruchti and Mooney would eventually find fruition in the national QuarkNet program.
|
||||
|
||||
=== SSC ===
|
||||
|
||||
Another factor involved with the establishment of QuarkNet was the demise of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), an American particle accelerator that had been planned for Texas. The U. S. Congress canceled funding for the project five years before the establishment of QuarkNet. Ruchti was concerned that a major impetus for particle physics research and education was leaving the United States. He believed that a program like QuarkNet could serve to fill the vacuum left by the departure of the center of the particle physics universe from the United States to CERN in Switzerland.
|
||||
|
||||
=== National QuarkNet program ===
|
||||
The national QuarkNet program was established by Keith Baker of Hampton University, Marge Bardeen of Fermilab, Michael Barnett of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Randal Ruchti of the University of Notre Dame in 1998. QuarkNet was started as a network of particle physicists and high school students and educators with the goal of providing hands-on experience in particle physics research. Ruchti established the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center at the University of Notre Dame in 1999 as one of 25 sites in the United States that were part of the nascent QuarkNet program. Ruchti would later assume leadership positions within the University of Notre Dame in 2008 and the National Science Foundation in 2011.
|
||||
|
||||
=== N. Eddy St. Lab ===
|
||||
At Notre Dame, two local South Bend, Indiana Adams High School students, David Dickerson and Daniel Saddawi-Konefka, were recruited in the summer of 1999 by professor Ruchti to build components for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment being constructed at CERN in Switzerland. Two local high school teachers, LeRoy Castle of LaPorte High School and Dale Wiand of Adams High School, also joined to work with Ruchti and the students. The team set up a laboratory in an abandoned Aldi grocery store on N. Eddy Street adjacent to the University of Notre Dame campus. The students began work on 500 calorimeters to be used in the LHC. The devices employed strands of fiber optic scintillating material that would detect light from collisions in the experiment. This project established the annual summer employment for area high school students and educators at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center.
|
||||
|
||||
=== D-Zero waveguides ===
|
||||
During the summer of 2000, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center would employ students Michael Busk of Trinity School at Greenlawn, Zach Clark of Jimtown High School, and Jenny Tristano of LaLumiere High School. Recruited by local science teachers, the students worked on fiber optic waveguides to be installed in the D-Zero experiment at Fermilab in Illinois. The waveguides were to be incorporated into D-Zero's Central Fiber Tracker in order to carry light signals derived from the emergence of high energy particles from the collisions of protons and antiprotons in the experiment. These collisions were conducted inside the ring-shaped Tevatron particle accelerator. At this time in the early 21st century, researchers were focused on obtaining evidence for the long sought Higgs boson particle which was later detected at CERN in 2012. Physics education was also included in the student's experience. During lunches, physicist Dan Karmgard of Notre Dame provided instruction on topics such as cosmic rays from space. The students also visited Fermilab to learn about the D-Zero detector and modern particle physics.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Fermilab Summer 2000 Training Session ===
|
||||
QuarkNet staff member Patrick Mooney of the Trinity School at Greenlawn was one of the organizers of a Summer 2000 teacher training session at Fermilab. Mooney had been a researcher with the D-Zero experiment and had obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Notre Dame in 1986. 24 high school teachers participated in the Fermilab experience. Training session organizer Ken Cecire of Hampton University had recruited one of the teachers for the summer workshop. Cecire was also a QuarkNet national staff member. He had studied physics at the City College of New York and had worked previously as a high school teacher.
|
||||
33
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|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
|
||||
chunk: 2/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== Tom Loughran ===
|
||||
Tom Loughran of the University of Notre Dame participated in a summer 2000 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) experience at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center under the guidance of professor Ruchti. Loughran had obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame in 1986. Loughran would go on to work in various aspects and offshoots of the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center and Fermilab such as the I2U2 education program, Michiana BioEYES, and the Notre Dame Extended Research Community (NDeRC).
|
||||
|
||||
=== Smithsonian cosmic rays ===
|
||||
In the Summer of 2001, Randal Ruchti and Barry Baumbaugh of Notre Dame installed a cosmic ray detector in a permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The detector was included in the "Explore the Universe" exhibit that highlighted instruments built by astronomers and scientists. Ruchti and Baumbaugh's detector was the only live functioning device in the exhibit and utilized a night vision scope to project live views of cosmic ray particle tracks on a screen. The night vision scope detected faint pulses of light generated when high energy particles pass through a bundle of special fiber optic material in the device. The building of cosmic ray detectors would become one of the major summer projects for QuarkNet students.
|
||||
|
||||
=== NSF funding ===
|
||||
In 2002, the National Science Foundation approved $3.67 million in funding to continue the QuarkNet program for the next five years with the goal of eventually hosting 60 university based centers similar to the center at Notre Dame. According to professor Ruchti, one of the students from the 2001 program, Amy DeCelles of Trinity School at Greenlawn, had been instrumental in convincing the NSF review panel in Washington D.C. to approve the new funding. The Notre Dame QuarkNet Center was now staffed full time by Beth Marchant (Beiersdorf) who had been a physics teacher at LaSalle High School and had participated as an RET teacher in 2000. Marchant would direct the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center from 2001 to 2009. Dale Wiand of Adams High School and LeRoy Castle of LaPorte High School continued their involvement with the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. Wiand had accomplished an RET experience at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center in 2000 and Castle had finished his RET at Notre Dame in 2002.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Student growth ===
|
||||
A news feature in the journal Nature provided an overview of the QuarkNet program and Randal Ruchti's establishment of the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. The article stressed the ability of QuarkNet teachers to introduce current physics topics within their classrooms. It also mentioned the growth experienced by students in the program who were enabled to ask "probing questions" during their subsequent high school science classes.
|
||||
|
||||
== Mid to late 2000s ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== ODUs ===
|
||||
|
||||
Two students from Lakeshore High School in Stevensville, Michigan, Elliott Mallen and Erin McCamish, were profiled in a newspaper article published in July 2002. The students build devices known as ODUs that would be installed in the Large Hadron Collider at Geneva, Switzerland. The ODUs featured 250 optical fibers and cost approximately $5,000 to make. According to the article, the students had to attend lunch lectures given by professors and guest speakers. As a final project, the students had to deliver a presentation on a particle physics subject. Mallen and McCamish had been recruited by Notre Dame QuarkNet teacher Jeff Chorny of Lakeshore High School and obtained $7.85 per hour of work along with three college credits from Notre Dame.
|
||||
|
||||
=== GRID data team ===
|
||||
During the summers of 2003 and 2004, the GRID data team at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center worked to create a web page to provide access to test beam data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. The web page would allow students to access and analyze this data and to store their results. In particular, the proton beam from CERN would be tested for purity, and the detectors would be tested for anomalies. The group traveled to Fermilab to learn the analysis of calorimeter data for beam purity. The data was analyzed with a free analysis program named ROOT, which allowed the students to graph data for analysis. The large amount of data required distributed computers located at Fermilab, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, and Notre Dame. This team was led by Notre Dame QuarkNet staff members Daniel Karmgard, Tom Loughran, and Patrick Mooney along with Lynda Rose of Penn High School. The group employed two students each summer. A summary of this project was published in the Mathematics Teacher for May 2005.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Notre Dame science outreach ===
|
||||
The Research Experience for Teachers at Notre Dame (RET@ND) program at Notre Dame was highlighted in an article in ND Works, a news journal catering to the university. The RET@ND program drew applications from local science and mathematics teachers to perform summer research on the campus. During the previous summer, three-dozen area high school teachers were employed. The article stressed the example of the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center as a model of success. According to the article, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center had engaged dozens of physics teachers and students in two months of all-day research in high energy physics. Other Notre Dame efforts were mentioned such as those of the electrical engineering department, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Physics (JINA), the graduate program for the history and philosophy of science, and a teacher education program for elementary and middle schools sponsored by nearby Saint Mary's College. This later program had been funded by a three-year grand from the Indiana Department of Education.
|
||||
21
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center-2.md
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21
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|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
|
||||
chunk: 3/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== Siemens Competition ===
|
||||
In 2006, junior students Mengwen Zhang (Penn High School) and Kristen Anderson (Bremen High School) were selected as finalists for the Siemens Competition for scientific research held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The students had presented their QuarkNet summer research project named "Performance of Scintillating and Waveshifting Fibers for Particle Detectors". The research was related to the particle accelerator at CERN. Both students were introduced to the QuarkNet program by their high school science teachers. Anderson and Zhang performed their research project under the direction of QuarkNet staff members Dan Karmgard and Mark Vigneault. Anderson obtained a bachelor's degree from MIT and now works in the aerospace industry. Zhang was the Penn High School co-valedictorian and later obtained her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Santa Barbara and works as a patent engineer.
|
||||
|
||||
=== CRiL ===
|
||||
In 2007, Marian High School junior Tony Coiro and LaLumier High School junior Caleb Phillps worked at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center under the direction of Dan Karmgard, Jeff Chorny, Danielle McDermott, then an Arkansas high school physics teacher, research technician Mike McKenna, and physicist Barry Baumbaugh of Notre Dame. Their project was to build a table-top cosmic ray detector to be installed as a demo at the CERN visitor center. The device, termed the CRiL, consisted of pairs of scintillating tiles mounted in a horizontal, rotating structure. Meant to be interactive, the CRiL is controlled with a touch screen. Users can place their hands between the horizontal detectors and note that it has no effect on the passage of cosmic ray particles. The group traveled to CERN in 2008 to install the demo. Coiro went on to study physics at Purdue University. He made national news by building a solar powered motorcycle that could also be charged with regular household current. Coiro along with other electric vehicle enthusiasts also started the Purdue Electric Vehicles Club. Coiro now works in the aerospace industry. Danielle McDermott later obtained a Ph.D. from Notre Dame and obtained an appointment with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Barry Baumbaugh had joined the Notre Dame High Energy Physics Group in 1978 and had worked with professor Ruchti at Fermilab and CERN. Baumbaugh was also deeply involved in the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. According to Notre Dame professor Mitch Wayne, Baumbaugh had helped a wide range of people from university faculty and graduate students to area high school students and educators.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Project GRAND ===
|
||||
In the late 1980s, professor John Poirier of the University of Notre Dame started construction of Project GRAND, a cosmic ray detector array located the on the Notre Dame campus. The detector consisted of 64 huts arrayed in a 10,000 m2 grid pattern. Within each hut was an array of stacked proportional wire chambers that were able to measure the energy and direction angles of muons generated by the impact of cosmic rays with molecules of gas in the atmosphere. Poirier and his students used Project GRAND to study various phenomena related to the sun and space weather. Project GRAND was later utilized as a summer project for Notre Dame undergraduate students along with area high school faculty and students. Local teachers Ed Fidler and Calvin Schwartzendruber performed research under the aegis of the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. Goals of the Project GRAND summer project were outreach and enrichment of potential science students.
|
||||
|
||||
=== NDeRC ===
|
||||
In 2007, the University of Notre Dame secured a grant for $2.71 million from the National Science Foundation to support 37 graduate students who worked as "ambassadors for science" in local secondary school classrooms. The program was named the Notre Dame extended Research Community (NDeRC). The grant, referred to as an "NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education Award" was secured due to the efforts of Tom Loughran and other teachers active in the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. According to Loughran, the grant would enable graduate students to contribute to local science, technology, and engineering (STEM) education while providing broad preparation for their later careers. The graduate students were paired with QuarkNet teachers in Lakeshore High School in Stevensville, Michigan and Indiana high schools in LaPorte, Bremen, and Elkhart. The graduate students also participated in the QuarkNet summer research projects of their respective teachers. The projects were linked to Notre Dame research in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, and robotics. Loughran also emphasized that QuarkNet and NDeRC would work with Notre Dame's Robinson Community Learning Center, which had shared an adjacent wing of the building housing the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. The Robinson Center provides programs and resources for the South Bend community. The graduate students would be able to contribute to programs offered by the Robinson Center. Starting in 2007, NDeRC also sponsored a series of annual forums named "Collaborating for Education and Research Forum" (ND Forum) that were held on the Notre Dame campus. The events provided opportunities for local school teachers and administrators to interact with university faculty and graduate students along with representatives from local business and government. An exhibit hall allowed local science and education organizations to showcase exhibits and the work they perform for the community. Indiana representative, and later senator, Joe Donnelly spoke at the 2011 ND Forum.
|
||||
27
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27
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|
||||
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|
||||
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
|
||||
chunk: 4/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== I2U2 ===
|
||||
In 2008, Tom Loughran was selected as Education Program Leader for the Interactions in Understanding the Universe (I2U2) program. This NSF-funded effort had been established by Marge Bardeen of Fermilab. Within I2U2, Loughran would spearhead the continuing development of e-Labs which had been used by other QuarkNet teachers nationally. Work on e-Labs became part of the summer research performed at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. The e-Labs were designed as a free resource that would link data and researchers from academic settings to high school educators and students. The e-Labs drew on work in cosmic rays, observations from the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment within the LHC, and data from the LIGO gravitational wave experiment. In 2009, Loughran sponsored a Notre Dame workshop for local teachers to showcase the new LIGO e-Lab. Physics teacher Mark Kirzeder of Marian High School stated that "It's going to be a neat application." Kirzeder would go on to become a QuarkNet teacher in 2010. He had taught mathematics at Mishawaka Marian High School since 2005 and would be appointed principal of the school in 2014.
|
||||
|
||||
=== ILC ===
|
||||
In 2009, a group of Notre Dame faculty and local high school teachers and students developed a project to build muon tracking devices for the planned International Linear Collider (ILC) particle accelerator. According to Notre Dame professor Mitch Wayne, the Notre Dame high energy physics personnel had a long history of working with the calorimetry of scintillating fibers and made a natural fit to develop muon tracking devices for the proposed collider. The university was also part of the Muon Detector Group, an association of around 30 international and provincial universities and research facilities. The annual QuarkNet program was utilized to recruit students to work on building the muon tracking devices. Wayne expressed his view that local students would enjoy a unique learning experience and foster their interest in high energy physics.
|
||||
|
||||
== 2010s ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Mitch Wayne ===
|
||||
Around 2004, Randal Ruchti handed off the QuarkNet principal investigator duties to Notre Dame professor Mitch Wayne. Wayne had worked with the QuarkNet program for much of its existence and was instrumental in obtaining funds from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. He has also worked with Ken Cecire to build and promote the physics Masterclasses offered by QuarkNet and CERN. These masterclasses allow high school students to work with real data from the CMS experiment at CERN and to build cosmic ray detectors.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Particle physics masterclasses ===
|
||||
In March 2010, a QuarkNet international masterclass was held at the Notre Dame's Robinson Community Learning Center. Students form St. Joseph High School under the tutelage of Notre Dame QuarkNet teacher Tom Loughran attended the event. The St. Joseph students interacted via videoconference with students at the University of Vienna and University of Cincinnati along with moderators at Fermilab. The students collaborated on data from the Electron-Positron Collider (LEP), the predecessor of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Switzerland. According to Dan Karmgard of Notre Dame, the results would be statistically combined with the results from other students around the world.
|
||||
In March 2015, a particle physics masterclass was conducted at the Notre Dame QuarkNet center for Adams High School physics students under the supervision of QuarkNet teacher Dan Walsh. The students analyzed Higgs boson data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Later in the week, the students participated in a video simulcast along with some international students. As mentioned in the March 22, 2015, edition of the South Bend Tribune, other area students, teachers, and Notre Dame faculty have participated in masterclasses and summer sessions offered by the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Five-year funding ===
|
||||
In 2012, it was reported that the University of Notre Dame received $6 million to support the QuarkNet particle physics program. The funding would provide for five years of operation. QuarkNet funding operates on a five-year schedule. In 2018, Mitch Wayne was able to secure $4.25 million in funds from the National Science Foundation to continue the operation of 52 QuarkNet centers across the United States. Professor Wayne also obtained three years of funding in 2023.
|
||||
27
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center-4.md
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27
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|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
|
||||
chunk: 5/6
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== Notre Dame DVT ===
|
||||
In 2013, Ken Andert of LaLumiere High School attended the Live Interactive Planetarium Symposium held at Seminole State College in Sandford, Florida. Andert started work as a QuarkNet teacher in 1999 and has worked with astronomy professor Keith Davis of Notre Dame in the university's Digital Visualization Theater (DVT) at the Jordan Hall of Science. The DVT is a 136-seat, 50-foot-domed planetarium theatre. The Notre Dame QuarkNet DVT group was established in 2008. Along with Ken Andert and Keith Davis, other participants include Ed Fidler of New Buffalo High School and Notre Dame QuarkNet staff member Jeff Marchant. Andert and Davis teach summer QuarkNet students the foundations of 3D animation by using professional modeling and rendering software. Along with LaLumiere students, Andert and Davis created a 3D simulation of particle collisions from the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The simulation was designed to be projected onto a planetarium dome and was presented at the 2013 Sanford, Florida planetarium symposium. In 2016, LaLumiere students Camille Goethals and Oliver McNeil presented a simulation of the entire ring of the Large Hadron Collider at the Notre Dame DVT. To demonstrate the immense size of the LHC, the simulation compared the collider ring to the Notre Dame football stadium. In 2018, the QuarkNet DVT group traveled to France to make a presentation to the 24th International Planetarium Society conference in Toulouse, France. Students Fiona Hughes, Rose Kelly, and Julianna Meyer had worked on the DVT simulation of the LHC during their summer work at QuarkNet in 2017 and had presented the LHC model at the Live Interactive Planetarium Symposium held at Ball State University on July 18, 2017. The next summer, the students, along with QuarkNet and Notre Dame faculty members, traveled to the Toulouse conference to present the LHC model for conference attendees. The students posted YouTube videos about their experience. Fiona Hughes went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 2022, Julianna Mayer obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual communication design and film from Notre Dame in 2022, and Rose Kelly was a rising freshman at the time of the conference planning to attend the University of California at Los Angeles to study philosophy and computer science.
|
||||
|
||||
=== International masterclass ===
|
||||
In 2014, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center received an $8,000 grant from Notre Dame International to establish particle physics collaborations between Notre Dame and educators in South America. Directed by Ken Cecire and Mitch Wayne, the Masterclass Institutes Collaborating in the Americas (MICA) program established a partnership between Notre Dame and the Pontifical Catholic University in Santiago, Chile. The collaboration would bring together high school students from Indiana and Chile through an online masterclass where participants would utilize real experimental data to become "particle physicists for a day". The students would interact via an online video conference to finish the day-long session. Cecire and Mooney traveled to Santiago to train physicists at the Pontifical Catholic University to administer the workshop. Jeremy Wegner of Winamac Community High School in Indiana and Jeff Chorny of Lakeshore High School in Michigan performed a complimentary cosmic ray experiment in the northern hemisphere during the workshop by driving from Indiana to Alabama with a portable cosmic ray detector. The masterclass was intended to establish a long-term partnership between the two universities.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Indiana University South Bend (IUSB): PICO and environmental sensors ===
|
||||
|
||||
During the summer of 2015, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center partnered with Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) to work on the PICO dark matter experiment. Two QuarkNet teachers and one QuarkNet student collaborated with Professor Ilan Levine to build acoustic sensors within the experiment's bubble chamber. PICO was designed to be sensitive to weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). These hypothetical particles are a leading candidate for the mysterious dark matter observed in space. The PICO detector was supported by National Science Foundation grants and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics of the University of Chicago. The PICO detector is located 2 kilometers underground at the Canadian SNOLAB facility.
|
||||
A collaboration between IUSB professor Brian Davis and the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center centered around building data loggers for environmental sensing. In July 2024, IUSB faculty and students along with a Notre Dame QuarkNet launched two weather balloons bearing multiple data loggers. QuarkNet high school students Mia Bradley (Lakeshore High School) and Sorel Miller (Bethany Christian Schools, Goshen, IN) worked on the environmental sensors project. Bradley stated, "We got to build some circuit boards and data loggers, which is a super opportunity, and we've also been learning how to program them and explore different ways to utilize them." According to IUSB professor Ilan Levine, the sensors were designed to measure the concentrations of particulates from automobiles and coal burning power plants in Indiana and to provide data on how these values change with elevation.
|
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||||
== 2020s ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Reyniers Life Building ===
|
||||
In 2019, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center moved from its old location in the Aldi store located at Howard and Eddy Streets to the Reyniers Life Building on the Notre Dame campus. The old building complex, which also held Notre Dame's Robinson Community Learning Center and the Notre Dame Surplus Store, was demolished to make way for new construction. The Robinson Community Learning Center was moved to a new facility across the street. The Notre Dame QuarkNet Center had worked out of the old lab since 1999.
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=== Cosmic rays ===
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In 2023, Kenneth Cecire spoke at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023) in Nagoya, Japan. The talk detailed the building of Cosmic Watches at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. Invented by Spencer Axani of MIT, the Cosmic Watch is an inexpensive cosmic ray detector that can be utilized in high school and university physics classes. Before, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center had a long-term project to build and test larger, tabletop size cosmic ray detectors for use in the classroom. In an effort provide less expensive units that could make up a class set of detectors, Notre Dame QuarkNet teacher Dan Kallenberg of Adams High School had spearheaded the construction of several Cosmic Watches during the summer of 2019. In 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cecire and Kallenberg, along with collaborator Joel Klammer, were part of an "Accel Kitchen" workshop held at the Hiroo Gakuen school in Tokyo where they performed Cosmic Watch experiments and demonstrations. In 2022, Kallenberg, with help from Senior Technician Daniel Ruggiero and summer students, built 48 Cosmic Watches that would be provided to local and national QuarkNet teachers for testing. Miki Ohtsuka, a visiting teacher from Waseda Honjo Senior High School in Japan, also contributed to the 2022 summer session and cosmic watch construction. In 2023, testing of the Cosmic Watches was performed by high school students Maggie Karban of the Trinity School at Greenlawn and Rowan McNeely of New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, Indiana. Testing involved using stacked Cosmic Watches in order to determine coincidence rates where both detectors are triggered, measuring the angle of particle hits from the zenith, and measuring cosmic ray hits when detectors are separated vertically. Other projects involved taking detectors and performing measurements on different floors of two buildings on the Notre Dame campus.
|
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|
||||
=== ASP workshop ===
|
||||
In 2024, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center participated in the African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications (ASP) biennial workshop in Morocco. The ASP hosted about 80 African undergraduate and graduate students for a two-week workshop. Ken Cecire traveled to Morocco to help with the workshop. Cecire had meant to attend in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic had halted the trip. Cecire shared several hands-on demonstrations of particle physics and probability concepts. QuarkNet staff teacher Shane Wood recalled his participation in a recent ASP activity and how he was struck by the similarities and challenges of teaching students in Africa and the United States.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Post-2023 funding ===
|
||||
QuarkNet funding was up for renewal in 2023. Mitch Wayne submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2022 seeking to renew QuarkNet funding for another five-year period. In his January 2023 presentation to the QuarkNet Advisory Board Meeting, Wayne noted that the program had supported its teachers full time even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSF agreed to a three-year funding extension. According to the NSF program officer, reducing the program from five to three years was a "shot across the bow." The main issue was the perceived lack of discussion in the proposal to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among students and teachers in the QuarkNet program. At the May 2025 QuarkNet Advisory Board Meeting, a discussion was held concerning Trump administration cuts to NSF science education in-progress grants. In particular, the potential for 50% cuts in funding along with the viability of hosting QuarkNet for 2026 was addressed. If the 2026 year couldn't be funded, ways to "gracefully/effectively" close out the program were discussed.
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||||
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||||
== See also ==
|
||||
Notre Dame College of Science
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
Notre Dame QuarkNet Center (NDQC)
|
||||
Notre Dame College of Science, Notre Dame QuarkNet Center
|
||||
Google Site: Notre Dame QuarkNet Center
|
||||
I2U2 e-Labs
|
||||
YouTube: TheDVT3
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|
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||||
Pathological science is an area of research where "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions." The term was coined by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory. Langmuir said a pathological science is an area of research that simply will not "go away"—long after it was given up on as "false" by the majority of scientists in the field. He called pathological science "the science of things that aren't so."
|
||||
In his 2002 book, Undead Science, sociology and anthropology Professor Bart Simon lists it among practices that are falsely perceived or presented to be science, "categories ... such as ... pseudoscience, amateur science, deviant or fraudulent science, bad science, junk science, pathological science, cargo cult science, and voodoo science." Examples of pathological science include the Martian canals, N-rays, and cold fusion. The theories and conclusions behind all of these examples are currently rejected or disregarded by the majority of scientists.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Definition ==
|
||||
|
||||
Pathological science, as defined by Langmuir, is a psychological process in which a scientist, originally conforming to the scientific method, unconsciously veers from that method, and begins a pathological process of wishful data interpretation (see the observer-expectancy effect and cognitive bias). Some characteristics of pathological science are:
|
||||
|
||||
The maximum effect that is observed is produced by a causative agent of barely detectable intensity, and the magnitude of the effect is substantially independent of the intensity of the cause.
|
||||
The effect is of a magnitude that remains close to the limit of detectability, or multiple measurements are necessary because of the low statistical significance of the results.
|
||||
There are claims of great accuracy.
|
||||
Fantastic theories contrary to experience are suggested.
|
||||
Criticisms are met by ad hoc excuses.
|
||||
The ratio of supporters to critics rises and then falls gradually to oblivion.
|
||||
Langmuir never intended the term to be rigorously defined; it was simply the title of his talk on some examples of "weird science". As with any attempt to define the scientific endeavor, examples and counterexamples can always be found.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Langmuir's examples ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== N-rays ===
|
||||
|
||||
Langmuir's discussion of N-rays has led to their traditional characterization as an instance of pathological science.
|
||||
In 1903, Prosper-René Blondlot was working on X-rays (as were other physicists of the era) and noticed a new visible radiation that could penetrate aluminium. He devised experiments in which a barely visible object was illuminated by these N-rays, and thus became "more visible". Blondlot claimed that N-rays were causing a small visual reaction, too small to be seen under normal illumination, but just visible when most normal light sources were removed and the target was just barely visible to begin with.
|
||||
N-rays became the topic of some debate within the science community. After a time, American physicist Robert W. Wood decided to visit Blondlot's lab, which had moved on to the physical characterization of N-rays. An experiment passed the rays from a 2 mm slit through an aluminium prism, from which he was measuring the index of refraction to a precision that required measurements accurate to within 0.01 mm. Wood asked how it was possible that he could measure something to 0.01 mm from a 2 mm source, a physical impossibility in the propagation of any kind of wave. Blondlot replied, "That's one of the fascinating things about the N-rays. They don't follow the ordinary laws of science that you ordinarily think of." Wood then asked to see the experiments being run as usual, which took place in a room required to be very dark so the target was barely visible. Blondlot repeated his most recent experiments and got the same results—despite the fact that Wood had reached over and covertly sabotaged the N-ray apparatus by removing the prism.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Other examples ===
|
||||
Langmuir offered additional examples of what he regarded as pathological science in his original speech:
|
||||
|
||||
The Davis–Barnes effect (1929; after Professor Bergen Davis from Columbia University)
|
||||
Mitogenetic rays (1923; Alexander Gurwitsch and others)
|
||||
The Allison effect (1927; after Fred Allison). (b) (c) (d) (e)
|
||||
Extrasensory perception (1934), where Rhine consciously discarded contrary test results because he felt they could not be correct.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Later examples ===
|
||||
A 1985 version of Langmuir's speech offered more examples, although at least one of these (polywater) occurred entirely after Langmuir's death in 1957:
|
||||
|
||||
Water dowsing
|
||||
Martian canals (observed in late 19th century and early 20th century, they turned out to be optical illusions.)
|
||||
Certain reported photomechanical and electromechanical effects
|
||||
Biological effects of magnetic fields (see magnetobiology and magnet therapy) except magnetoception
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Newer examples ==
|
||||
Since Langmuir's original talk, a number of newer examples of what appear to be pathological science have appeared. Denis Rousseau has cited as examples the cases of Martin Fleischmann's cold fusion and Jacques Benveniste's "infinite dilution".
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Cold fusion ===
|
||||
|
||||
In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced the discovery of a simple and cheap procedure to obtain room-temperature nuclear fusion. Although there were multiple instances where successful results were reported, they lacked consistency and hence cold fusion came to be considered to be an example of pathological science. Two panels convened by the US Department of Energy, one in 1989 and a second in 2004, did not recommend a dedicated federal program for cold fusion research. A small number of researchers continue working in the field.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Water memory ===
|
||||
|
||||
Jacques Benveniste was a French immunologist who in 1988 published a paper in the prestigious scientific journal Nature describing the action of high dilutions of anti-IgE antibody on the degranulation of human basophils, findings which seemed to support the concept of homeopathy. Biologists were puzzled by Benveniste's results, as only molecules of water, and no molecules of the original antibody, remained in these high dilutions. Benveniste concluded that the configuration of molecules in water was biologically active. Subsequent investigations have not supported Benveniste's findings.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
Fringe science
|
||||
Protoscience
|
||||
Research Integrity Risk Index
|
||||
Scientific misconduct
|
||||
List of experimental errors and frauds in physics
|
||||
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Notes ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
Carroll, Robert Todd, "pathological science". The Skeptic's Dictionary.
|
||||
Biberian, Jean-Paul (2007). "Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (Cold Fusion): An Update" (PDF). International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology. 3 (1): 31–43. Bibcode:2007IJNES...3...31B. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.618.6441. doi:10.1504/IJNEST.2007.012439.
|
||||
Kirby, Geoff., "Forum: Now you see it...Now you don't – A pathological tendency among astronomers", New Scientist, 24 February 1990
|
||||
Kowalski, Ludwik, "Pathological Science" (N-rays story). Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, N.J.
|
||||
Langmuir, I. and R. N. Hall., "Pathological Science". Colloquium at The Knolls Research Laboratory, December 18, 1953.
|
||||
Langmuir, Irving, and Robert N. Hall. "Pathological science". Physics Today 42 (10): 36–48. 1989.
|
||||
Turro, Nicholas J., "Toward a general theory of pathological science". 21stC: Issue 3.4 Strange Science.
|
||||
Wilson, James R., "Doctoral colloquium keynote address: conduct, misconduct, and cargo cult science". Department of Industrial Engineering, North Carolina State University. Raleigh, North Carolina.
|
||||
Wynne, B., "G. G. Barkla and the J-Phenomenon: a Case Study of the Treatment of Deviance in Physics", Social Studies of Science, Vol. 6, 1976, pp. 307–304 (abstract)
|
||||
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|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user