Quantum physics can make rocket science look like kindergarten circle time. Even experts find it daunting. So imagine the challenges that science writers face, both in understand the physics and conveying it to a general readership. To try to help, Sabine Hosenfelder and I organized a workshop on quantum physics for science journalists, held at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Stockholm this past August. Sabine and I got the idea a couple of years ago at a Nordita social event, where the open bar made us so rash as to commit ourselves to doing it.
The workshop gave writers a chance to extricate themselves from the hurly-burly of publishing for a few days, recharge their intellectual batteries, and learn about what's going on in all sorts of important and fun areas, from quantum optics to topological insulators. Some 25 of them came from across Europe to hear seven physicists, including FQXi members Raymond Laflamme, Lárus Thorlacius, and Silke Weinfurtner, as well as Eddy Ardonne, Marie Ericsson, Rainer Kaltenbaek, and Chad Orzel.
The event was modeled on the journalist "bootcamps" held routinely in the U.S., but less commonly in Europe. It amounted to a series of seminars along with evening social events and rambles through historic Stockholm so that people could get to know one another and ask the questions they'd been wondering about for years, but never had the chance or gumption to pose. The speakers enjoyed having an appreciative audience, with no one asking what they needed to know for the exam.
One afternoon, Mohamed Bourennane brought us into his lab at Stockholm University to witness quantum weirdness for ourselves. Afterwards, we had a good discussion about whether physicists and journalists overuse terms such as "quantum weirdness." Does this language help or hinder public understanding of the subject? Sabine has started a discussion about this on her blog.
The presentations are a great resource even for those who weren't able to attend, and we'll also post videos of the lectures on YouTube as we get them ready.