Branding science to save us all

Ira Kalb. One of the serious side effects of the financial meltdown is the cutting of funds for scientific research. Development of the microprocessor to power your computer and mobile phone is a bi-product of government-funded scientific research to land a man on the moon. Cures for disease, the development of renewable energy, and the ability to grow more food and create safe drinking water are just a few of the benefits that are derived from investments in science. This is why scientists, whether they like it or not, need to learn how to brand their work in a way that those with less scientific knowledge understand the great returns that can be generated from their investments. This requires using branding elements to put complex scientific concepts into the brains of mere mortals who vote for funding scientific projects that can help us all.

The most recent example of applying branding to scientific research is the discovery of the Higgs boson, which has been labeled the "God particle" because its postulated existence is required to explain the creation of the universe from a scientific perspective. Most scientists hate the term. In fact, the two who are credited with inventing it, Leon Lederman and Dick Teresi, claim it was used as a joke. Even so, the media latched onto the term "God particle" to emphasize its importance and to make it easier for people to understand it. Without the branded label, The Higgs boson is not easy for the average person to understand. It is a particle that acts like a sticky substance, which causes sub atomic particles to slow down and stick together to form atoms that have mass. Back in July, Scientists at CERN in Geneva Switzerland announced that they discovered a subatomic particle they thought was the Higgs boson. After reviewing the data over the past 8 months, the scientists confirmed their discovery.

British physicist Peter Higgs theorized the existence of this particle in 1964 to help explain matter and mass. According to Dick Teresi, co-author of The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?, six other scientists helped in its theorization, but Higgs is "the only major particle that the discoverer, or the theorist, named after himself."

Bosons are one of the two basic classes of subatomic particles that carry force and occupy the same quantum state and space no matter how many of them are present. French physicist Paul Dirac named bosons after the Indian physicist Satyendranath Bose who worked with Albert Einstein in defining what they are. In addition to the Higgs boson, other particles that exhibit this behavior include photons and gravitons.

Confirmation of the Higgs Boson comes 60 years after James Watson and Francis Crick publicized their discovery of the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid a molecule that is a fundamental building block of life. Since the name is a bit too complicated for the average person to read and remember, it is frequently branded by the familiar acronym DNA. DNA is commonly used to solve crimes, find cures for diseases, confirm paternity, and establish relationships between various populations around the globe. In fact, DNA is frequently used as a metaphor for the structure, fabric, or building blocks of just about anything.

While many associate it with a popular TV show about Ph.D. student physicists at Cal Tech, Big Bang Theory is the term first used by an English scientist, Fred Hoyle, on a radio broadcast in 1949. Oddly enough, many claim he used the term in a derogatory way because he believed in a competing Steady State theory for the creation of the cosmos. Anyway, the Big Bang Theory is the branded term used to explain the explosive origin of the universe nearly 13.8 billion years ago. It has grown to become the prevailing cosmological model for explaining the beginning of the universe.

The branding of scientific terms can also take the form of an equation. Perhaps the most famous equation is E=MC2, which shows the equivalence of energy and mass. Albert Einstein introduced the equation in a 1905 paper entitled Does the inertia of an object depend upon its energy-content?? While the concept is difficult for the average person to really understand, the equation has turned into a familiar brand. You will find this equation as a branding element on T-shirts, pasted all over science buildings, and in graphic form just about everywhere. Along with the God Particlee and the Big Bang Theory, it helps us to understand how a huge amount of energy that occupied little or no space exploded and transformed into the universe with massive stars, planets, comets, asteroids, and all the objects we know. All of these concepts combine with DNA to help explain how life as we know it evolved.

We should grateful to scientists for their amazing discoveries that have helped to change our world. We should also thank those that branded them so that inventors are able understand them well enough to create products that make our lives better. Now, all we need is for science marketers to make these discoveries even easier to understand. That way, perhaps our politicians and the electorate that put them in office would support funding education and projects for stem cell research, cures for diseases, the exploration of space, and other projects that aim to improve life on earth.