Conveying the work of scientists to the public as popular narratives

As the intellectual elite in society, scientists play a creative and pioneering role in both the exploration of the unknown world and the rationalization of social life. Their scientific careers provide ideal content for science popularization among the public. Rendering the work of scientists into stories that are popular with people is a subject that deserves special attention in science popularization. The biographies of scientists, written by historians of science and popular science writers, provide the most directly relevant sources of materials and content for communication.

Biographies are commonly used as a means for studying scientists. This is the typical outcome of specialized research on the history of science and the most acceptable and readable type of history of science for the public. In general, the biographies of scientists usually involve their lives and scholarship: they are about reviewing the scientists’ lives and academic growth. By reading scientific biographies, the public can access the inner world of scientists and experience the scientific spirit that underpins great scientific achievements.

However, the readership of scientific biographies among the Chinese public is small. Some best-selling foreign biographies have received only a mediocre response when introduced to China. Although some high-quality biographies of Chinese scientists have also been published, most biographies are poorly written and thus have not won many readers over. At the inaugural meeting of the Department of History of Science at Tsinghua University in 2017, Yang Zhenning noted the lack of success and professionalism of works on the history of science in China and claimed that the biographical literature on scientists intended for public consumption contains some fabricated episodes. That deceptive manner of writing should be rejected.

Many issues need to be addressed to create an engaging and informative narrative on the work done by scientists, and they are all closely related to scientific biographies. We focus on three aspects in this article.

First, we should break the pattern of depicting scientists as saints, restore a more accurate image of scientists and build empathy with the reader.

Scientists form a special group that appears to keep a distance from the public. The stereotype of scientists is closely related to the manner in which their biographies are written as well as the message that is communicated in those biographies. For example, the book Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie portrays Madame Curie as a perfect woman scientist in a Hollywood-style narrative. We should note that this kind of lofty and heroic image, often encountered in the biographies of scientists in the past, has been widely disseminated because it is consistent with the need to establish role models in the context of the propaganda and education systems in China. However, the development of research on the history of science and the gradual establishment of multicultural values have led to a growing trend towards the demystification of the public image of scientists in China. Some studies have shown that the shaping of the image of scientists is shifting, from a grand narrative involving spiritual construction and conceptualization to the exploration of scientists’ daily lives, values and personalities. Thus, debunking the stereotypes about them to bring scientists closer to the public is a much-discussed topic in the media in this context. Accordingly, the biographies of scientists need to move beyond the traditional ‘saint’ model and provide details about their real lives so that readers can view them as real people, appreciate their dedication to their ideals, admire their personalities and their pursuit of values, and empathize with them. Only in this way can we popularize scientific biographies among the public.

Second, we should explore the balance between the scientific elements and the readability of scientific biographies and present the multiple facets of scientists.

Thomas Hankins has proposed three basic requirements for the biographies of scientists: 1) They must deal with science itself, 2) they must synthesize, as far as possible, different aspects of the subject's life into a single organized picture, and 3) they must be readable. The difficulties in writing scientific biographies are often closely related to and intertwined with these three requirements. The issue of striking a balance between the emphasis on science and the readability of such biographies is even more pronounced when they are intended for the general public. The work of scientists is largely beyond public comprehension due to the professionalization of science, the fine divisions among its numerous disciplines and the cutting-edge nature of scientific research. This has made abstract and advanced scientific concepts an insurmountable obstacle for readers without professional scientific training. To resolve this contradiction, scientific concepts must be conveyed in a way that is easy for readers to understand. The authors of scientific biographies thus require professional training in popular science writing and need to master the professional skills of science communication to the public, while having sufficient scientific literacy and strong narrative and language skills, in order to improve the readability of scientific biographies. For example, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman details the life and work of the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos. As a biography of a mathematician, the book inevitably makes references to mathematical theorems. However, the author describes these mathematical problems in a simple way that makes it easy for readers without a background in mathematics to understand the academic achievements of Erdos as well as the evolution of number theory over the course of 300 years. In addition, materials covering multiple aspects of scientists’ lives lend their biographies a more authentic and richer feeling and allow readers to appreciate the humanity of scientists. For example, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson not only describes Einstein's academic career in great detail but also gives readers an insight into his personal life, cultural attainments and political transformation, providing an immersive experience in which the reader can learn about Einstein. It makes full use of the multidimensional narrative approach to strike a good balance between scientific accuracy and readability.

Third, the authors of scientific biographies should enhance their comprehensive capability and cultural literacy.

Unlike professional historians of science, popular science biographers need to understand the scientific work of scientists and know how to tell good stories so that they can portray the scientist's achievement in the form of a narrative that the public can enjoy. Writing the biographies of scientists is a task that requires multifaceted skills. This work is usually undertaken by historians of science, popular science writers or scientists themselves. Historians of science must study and master the theories and skills involved in communicating science to the public. Popular science writers must shape the appropriate views of science and the history of science and gain appropriate training in theories of the history of science. Scientists who are engaged in writing biographies need to improve their command of both these domains. The ethical responsibilities and humanistic values of scientists are also indispensable elements in scientific biographies. The authors of scientific biographies must improve their own humanistic qualities to effectively communicate this message to the public. Moreover, they need to better appreciate the scientific and humanistic spirit defining the scientific endeavour and convey it effectively to the public.