New York City high school students Michael Kaplan, Dennis Wynn, and Rachel Lachhmans, attend the panel interviewing
Leon Lederman at the 2008 World Science Festival.
The inaugural
World Science Festival was held in
New York City from May 28 to June 1, 2008. It consisted mainly of panel discussions and on-stage conversations, accompanied by multimedia presentations. A youth and family program presented topics such as sports from a scientific perspective and included an extensive street fair. A cultural program led by actor and writer
Alan Alda focused on art inspired by science. The festival also included a World Science Summit, a meeting of high-level participants from the worlds of science, politics, administration, and business.
The World Science Festival was founded by
Brian Greene, a
Columbia University physics professor and author of several popular-science books (such as The Elegant Universe), and his wife,
Emmy Award-winning television journalist Tracy Day. Inspired by a visit to the 2005
Festival della Scienza in
Genoa, where Greene had been invited to speak, the two decided that founding a similar festival in New York City would be a unique opportunity to bring science to the wider public. As they envisioned it, such a festival would allow them to combine Greene's skills as a scientist and science communicator with Day's as a journalist and producer: the events were meant to be rooted in science, but also to conform to the production standards of professional TV or theater productions.[1]
Day and Greene sounded out scientists and science communicators about their idea, enlisting many of their contacts as the festival's scientific advisors. They met with the presidents of the city's major universities and its cultural and scientific institutions, forging partnerships for the festival's organization. According to Greene, their idea fell on open ears wherever they went, and the most frequent reaction to their proposal was the expression of disbelief that a festival like this did not already exist in New York City.[1] Early 2006 saw the founding of the Science Festival Foundation (SFF), a
non-profit organization based in New York City, dedicated to organizing the festival and related events. Greene serves as the foundation's chairman, and is also on its board of directors. The other members of the board are
Alan Alda, Columbia University president
Lee Bollinger, the foundation's president Judith Cox,
New York University president
John Sexton, and Tracy Day, who also serves as the festival's executive director.[2]
Next came the assembly of a team of producers who were to organize the festival's events. Notably Kyle Gibson, an Emmy Award-winning former producer of
Nightline with Ted Koppel, joined the festival as senior program producer, while production of the Youth and Family Program was put into the hands of Robin Reardon, a former show producer for
Walt Disney Imagineering and former vice president of
Universal Studios Creative, who also became the festival's managing director.[3] The task of raising the Festival's New York City profile went to Vice President Marketing Ben Austin, who previously worked for the New York City
Department of Education doing Public Relations for
Caroline Kennedy, but who had a scientific background appropriate to the new Festival.[4][5]
The inaugural World Science Festival took place from May 28 to June 1, 2008, at 22 venues throughout New York City. It included 46 events, a street fair and, on its first day, the one-day World Science Summit at Columbia University. The Festival was attended by 120,000 people.[7] It featured several different kinds of presentations: science events for a general audience, a cultural program focusing on art inspired by science, and a youth and family program.[8] Although inaugural, no other festival is planned.
World Science Summit
Preceding the public events was the invitation-only World Science Summit on May 28, 2008; New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg opened the Festival. At the summit, an invited audience interacted with eminent scientists in several panel discussions. Participants included
Nina Fedoroff (Science and Technology Advisor to U. S. Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice), biologist
David Baltimore and cancer researcher
Harold Varmus.[9]
Events covered a wide variety of scientific topics, and combined talks, demonstrations, video presentations and panel discussions. A number of events addressed "big questions". For example, a roster of scientists including physicist
William Phillips, philosopher
Patricia Churchland, neuroscientist
Antonio Damasio, philosopher
Daniel Dennett, cognitive scientist
Marvin Minsky, and cancer researcher
Harold Varmus, debated "What It Means to Be Human" in a panel discussion moderated by
Charlie Rose. A recurring theme was the wider implications of scientific results, as exemplified by a discussion on the promises and consequences of
personal genomics involving biochemist
Paul Nurse, sociologist
Nikolas Rose, and
human genome project leader
Francis Collins. A number of events explored the interface between science and the arts; for instance, a panel including psychologist
Nancy C. Andreasen, choreographer and dancer
Bill T. Jones, and actor and writer
Michael York focused on the scientific study of
creativity. Other audiences saw physicists
Lawrence Krauss and radio host
Ira Flatow presenting modern
cosmology, paleontologist
Richard Leakey exploring the
sixth extinction, soundscape ecologist
Bernie Krause reflecting on the loss of biophony, and chemist
F. Sherwood Rowland and
Rensselaer Polytechnic president
Shirley Ann Jackson discussing new ways of satisfying humanity's energy needs. A number of events were co-productions with the festival's partners, such as a discussion between
Robert Krulwich and neurologist and author
Oliver Sacks on perception, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and musician
Mark Oliver Everett's exploration of the scientific legacy of his father,
Hugh Everett, at the Museum of Modern Art.[11]
The festival's cultural program ranged from a
string theory-themed dance performance choreographed by
Karole Armitage to a storytelling event in cooperation with
The Moth, which featured journalist and writer
Lucy Hawking, physicist
Jim Gates and writer
Sam Shepard, among others. Alan Alda revisited his role as
Richard Feynman in
Peter Parnell's play QED in a staged reading at Columbia University's
Miller Theatre, and the choir of the
Abyssinian Baptist Church joined Oliver Sacks in an exploration of music and science. The festival also saw the première of Dear Albert, a reading for the stage written by Alda based on the letters of
Albert Einstein, and starring
Anthony LaPaglia as Einstein.[12]
The WSF Street Fair took place in and around
Washington Square Park, on the New York University campus, on Saturday, May 30, 2008. Although it was interrupted by a thunderstorm, the street fair was attended by 100,000 people, according to estimates from the
New York Police Department.[14]
Festival coverage leading up to the 2008 festival, which included articles in major newspapers and appearances by Alda and Greene on national shows such as Regis and Kelly and The Colbert Report, mostly focused on introducing the festival's concept, organizers and events, and on the promise of bringing an event of this type to New York.[17] Aside from mention of small organizational glitches, coverage of festival events was generally positive. Both Good Morning America and Science News focused on the potential of the festival to inspire the next generation of scientists and "make geek chic".[18] The New York Post described the festival's role in New York's cultural landscape as the geek counterpart of
Fashion Week and the
Tony Awards,[19] while the
Science Channel's coverage characterized the festival as "wonderfully inspiring and informative".[20]
The New York Times noted that Greene and Day appeared to have succeeded in creating "a new cultural institution";[21] further Times articles declared the festival a critical and a box office success.[22]
Online coverage typically focused on specific festival events. Notably, Science, Wired,
The Science Channel and USA Today provided same-day or next-day accounts of events including "What It Means to Be Human", "
Ramachandran/
Kurzweil: Humanity Now/Humanity Next", "Future Cities", as well as the two events featuring
Oliver Sacks.[23]
^Non-profit status and chairman position from the foundation's 990-EZ form for 2006, accessible online via
GuideStar,
GuideStar USA, Inc., 2008,
archived from the original on 2020-01-15, retrieved 2008-06-11. Current board of directors from World Science Festival (April 2008),
Board of directors, Science Festival Foundation, archived from
the original on June 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-06-08.
^General description: Overbye, Dennis (June 3, 2008b),
"An Overflowing Five-Day Banquet of Science and Its Meanings", New York Times,
archived from the original on April 30, 2011, retrieved 2008-06-05. Additional participant names as listed on the Festival's website at
World Science Festival (2008),
Speakers, Science Festival Foundation, archived from
the original on July 1, 2008, retrieved 2008-07-17; additional event information from the entries in World Science Festival,
All Events by Date, Science Festival Foundation, archived from
the original on July 16, 2008, retrieved 2008-07-17.
^Sports: Scalera, Nicholas (June 1, 2008),
"Science of Sports", Science Channel's Live Coverage of World Science Festival 2008, archived from
the original on June 1, 2008, retrieved 2008-06-25. Lederman/Breazeal interviews: Zielinski, Jess (May 30, 2008),
"World Science Festival: Pioneers in science", USA Today Blogs: Science Fair, USA Today, archived from
the original on June 2, 2008. Disney Imagineering event: Cohen, Patricia (May 31, 2008),
"The World Science Festival: Behind Disney's Magic", ArtsBeat, The New York Times,
archived from the original on June 5, 2008, retrieved 2008-06-25.
Participant information coincides with that given on the festival's website at World Science Festival,
Speakers, Science Festival Foundation, archived from
the original on August 3, 2008, retrieved 2008-07-17
^Participant number: Timmer, John (June 19, 2008),
"World Science Festival wrapup", Ars Technica,
archived from the original on June 20, 2008, retrieved 2008-06-25. Inclement weather: Tierney, John (June 1, 2008),
"Happy Fairgoers, Worried Biologists", TierneyLab, The New York Times,
archived from the original on September 30, 2019, retrieved 2008-06-25
^Powers, Zach (Aug 17, 2009),
The PCR Rap,
YouTube,
archived from the original on April 30, 2012, retrieved 2009-08-17
^Graeber, Laurel (May 30, 2008),
"Spare Times: For Children - World Science Festival", New York Times,
archived from the original on December 20, 2016, retrieved 2008-06-06 and Tierney, John (June 1, 2008),
"Happy Fairgoers, Worried Biologists", TierneyLab, The New York Times,
archived from the original on September 30, 2019, retrieved June 25, 2008, with additional information from World Science Festival (April 2008),
WSF Street Fair, Science Festival Foundation, archived from
the original on July 31, 2008, retrieved 2008-10-06.
^"Science Rocks!", ABC News, June 1, 2008,
archived from the original on June 7, 2008, retrieved 2008-11-25 (including quotation),
"Alan Alda Starts Science Festival", ABC News, June 1, 2008,
archived from the original on June 1, 2009, retrieved 2008-11-25, and Raloff, Janet (May 30, 2008),
"Son of Furby", Science News Online,
archived from the original on December 1, 2008, retrieved 2008-11-25
^Silverman, J. R. (May 30, 2008),
"Science and the City", New York Post,
archived from the original on May 31, 2009, retrieved 2008-11-25
^
Scalera, Nicholas (June 1, 2008),
"Human, All Too Human", Science Channel's Live Coverage of World Science Festival 2008, archived from
the original on June 6, 2008, retrieved 2008-11-25
^Box office: Tierney, John (May 30, 2008),
"Boffo Box Office for Science Festival", TierneyLab Blog, The New York Times,
archived from the original on August 20, 2008, retrieved 2008-10-22; critics: Tierney, John (May 30, 2008),
"Early Reviews of Science Festival", TierneyLab Blog, The New York Times,
archived from the original on August 20, 2008, retrieved 2008-10-22.