My laboratory is situated in an isolated corner of the institute campus. Whenever I have to stay there in night time for some work, one or the other of the security guards turns up to check if everything is fine. That routine visit starts a scientific discussion and I find myself talking to him about lidar, sunphotometer, aerosols, dust, smoke and so on. The guard would then tell his part of story – about fog, asthma, crop failure and other issues. That first question – ‘what are you doing’ – makes way for a long conversation about weather, climate and earth’s atmosphere. Hopefully, he gets some information about the direction in which atmospheric research in our country and elsewhere is heading. Even if I am not able to pass the knowledge completely and properly, at least now he knows few technical terms and names. So, the next time when he would come across any news or discussion on air pollution or climate, the concept would not be entirely new for him. In this way he would be able to expand his knowledge from what he already knows. At least that is what I hope.
I have always felt that it is necessary to talk to common people about your research work – the person who brings tea for you, cleans your room, security guard, auto driver, hostel caretaker and others. Even if not to that extreme, then at least you should discuss your work with your spouse, your parents, your children, and friends. I have found that people are always curious and want to know what you are doing. This conversation might be a very small gesture, and may or may not have far-reaching consequences. But nearly in every field of human endeavour, progress is very slow, so your seemingly negligible contribution would go a long way in developing scientific temper in society. It is improper to say – “You won’t understand, why do you want to know?” The truth is, you do have a social obligation — you were educated so that others could learn through you. Spreading knowledge and education is part of your social responsibility.
Perhaps you are working on a very specialized topic — some radical that you are examining or some equation that you are trying to solve. This makes you think that your work is beyond the grasp of general public. Still, in most of the cases, your work would not be an isolated affair; instead it must be part of a big picture. Most of the time, this big picture is very simple to understand and appreciate, and this picture is the story that the general public wants to know. Believe me, once you successfully share your work and your knowledge with people who do not know about it, you would experience great excitement and happiness. The glow on their faces on having learned something new, the relaxing of their facial muscles on having deciphered the whole meaning of the technical jargon, a confidence igniting in them that they too are able to understand the scientific stuff — all that would bring immense satisfaction to you too. You would understand that you have made your contribution to society. In fact, it is not necessary to do it all the time at the sacrifice of your own work. On the other hand, it would be good if you never miss the opportunity whenever it presents itself.
Above I have given the ‘unselfish’ point of view. However, if you insist on ‘ismey mera kya faydaa’ (what is there in it for me?), then I would say ‘a lot’! By explaining your work to ‘outsiders’, you would come to know how clear the basics are to yourself and how strong your own foundations are. If all the time you are only talking to people from your own field — your colleagues, your professors, collaborators — you put yourself into a comfort zone where you are never challenged and never asked questions. People assume that you know the basics, you have read those books and papers, and you are clear about the how and why of your subject. Often it is not so, and quite often most of the people are fooling others and themselves. Only when a very basic question is asked to you for which you do not have the answer, do you come to realize your own ignorance. Then it becomes very easy to fill those gaps.
Unfortunately, people try to escape and hide their ignorance. I remember one incident where some students had just returned from a field trip. During the course of the experiment, they were asked by general public about the work they were doing, their instruments, measurements and so on. Let me tell you, their work was not on particle physics or quantum mechanics, which could have been very difficult to explain, though not entirely impossible. Their work was on air pollution, a topic which affects all of us and attracts general interest, thanks to the large media coverage. Yet these young researchers could not share their knowledge or information, of whatever level it might be. Not only that, they were in fact laughing over the stupidity of the whole affair later on, and questioning how could one translate technical terms into Hindi, or the local language. The whole affair was very disappointing and embarrassing. Friends, please understand that it is not a matter of simple translation of content into the local language. People these days are very open to other languages, and also to technical and scientific jargon and nomenclature. That means, words like ozone, carbon monoxide, global warming do not raise eyebrows anymore. A large credit for this increased scientific awareness in society goes to the print and electronic media. It is also important to understand the difference between being ignorant and being an idiot. People who do not know something are ignorant; however, if you explain the concept well, they would learn about it. They are not idiots. It is highly improper to boast of one’s specialized education when one is not even able to describe it to others. That simply means that one is just playing with words, and in fact does not understand oneself what does it all mean.
The task does not require any special investment of time or energy. You are only asked to look deeper into the subject that you are already studying, and to try to understand the significance of all that you are doing. That is what is essentially needed. If you don’t do it, someone else would. And the latter may not necessarily have authentic knowledge and understanding of the subject. This could result in passing wrong information, though unintentionally and unconsciously. Then why not accept your responsibility and take the position of the guide and the leader that you really are?
photo credit: The Open University (OU) Rahul Pandey via photopin (license)
Pradyot 
I agree to what you have written Amitji..
One when share his knowledge is increasing awareness among others.. If the other person is a novice, simple words can make him understand atleast the concept.. I would not understand the technicality and the physics but yes if explained in basic terms would surely increase my knowledge..
Yes Shilpa, by being open and receptive to knowledge, one can learn a lot of things effortlessly.
🙂
Great thought. talking to people, children etc is also a form of imparting good education 👍
Yes Deepika. Sometimes you’d be surprised and intrigued by their questions. I mean, they may bring up some simple aspects that never came to your mind 🙂
Very true..I have experienced this with my little daughter 🙂
Russian word for ‘why’ is ‘pachemu’ (почему). So a child who always asks ‘why’ is called pachemuchka (почемучка) 🙂
Wow. Thanks for imparting this piece of information. Your sharing, has helped me learn some thing new 😃
I completely agree with you. Just like you have pointed out, there are a lot of benefits in explaining your research to the laypersons.
Very informative post.
It is so in all fields; however, I have noticed that in sciences, researchers are usually reluctant in discussing their work with laypersons, mainly because of the presumed difficulty in explaining technical concepts. On the other hand, this task is successfully accomplished during Science Day celebrations. So there is no reason why a particular task that was accomplished on a particular day could not be done on a regular basis.
I think you are definitely right about it being much more prevalent in science but I have been guilty of doing the same in Sociology too. And I do have friends from analytical philosophy who still field the questions by saying, “it is too complicated to explain”.
Sure, it is a common practice in several fields. However, I hesitated from making generalization and confined the focus of the post to my field of work.
I’m glad you introduced the word “layperson.” I think it is more fitting… Nevertheless I enjoyed the article Amit! Happy researching.
Thank you Akwelle!
Totally agree with you.
Thank you Sapna!
Like your approach in this connection which is not the conventional one followed by scientists who would prefer to be aloof from the common folks…
Not just from common people; there is a communication gap among scientists working in different fields also. I would take up this issue in a future post.
True. It helps others to understand things….it’s like guiding them to newer areas of knowledge. Thought-provoking article…
Thank you so much!
Reminds me of my Ph.D. days though I was studying management but late nights and security guards are common 😀
Interestingly, security guards also remember the students and workers, who work till late hours 🙂
Happy New Year Amit! Thanks so much for your kind, thoughtful suggestions for my blog. I appreciate your insight. I had been thinking about having an archive—but just had not gotten around to it. I hope the follow button is more visible now. Still skittish about the “Leave a Comment” part. We’ll see…never say never 🙂
All the best to you and thank you again. Sending you happy thoughts!
Akuokuo 🙂
Happy New Year Akuokuo! I visited your page; it is perfect now. Comments form is not required. Thanks for considering my suggestions 🙂
Thanks Amit! 🙂
Nice article. Thanks for addressing this point. I feel, technical work is just 50% work of a research.
I hope, the guard will get motivated by your work. He may explain this it to his family and children. His children may one day contribute in science and explain his work to someone else, and process continues..
It sounds like passing the torch from one athlete to another. It is a distant dream, but if it comes true, then it would be the biggest reward one could get. Thank you Hari Om!
I agree.
Love this point!! –> By explaining your work to ‘outsiders’, you would come to know how clear the basics are to yourself and how strong your own foundations are.
So often it happens in interviews that a very elementary question is asked for which the student does not have any answer. Mostly it is because the approach is to gather as much technical details as possible, without trying to understand the basic concepts.
It’s a great information. Have loads of meanings in every line of the article. Keep writing Pal.
Thank you Rekha for your kind appreciation!
Yes. Discussing our work with others always enhances our knowledge, and we get to see our work from a very different perspective.
Yes Shrikant. It is an asset to be able to look at any issue from different perspectives. We are then able to see a complete picture of the issue.