Kind: captions
Language: en
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for years there have been many women all
around the world
who have communicated science to the
public complicated science you know
things like mycobacterium tubercles the
theory of general relativity
and the laws of thermodynamics and we
are going to meet two of them the first
is a brilliant mathematician and
communicator
alive about 1 650 years ago
right here in alexandria what used to be
egypt's capital
let me introduce you to this historical
incredibly awesome lady
hi pucia of alexandria
welcome let me hear you say hi
bisha hypieshia was one of the first
known female mathematicians
she was super independent crazy smart
and had a love for making knowledge
accessible to everyone
and not just the nerdy kids in school
but this kind of work isn't all ancient
history no
fast forward to today i want you to meet
another amazing woman
dalini not kearney yup this lady
climbing the street like it's no big
deal like it's
oh you want me to climb this gigantic
tree hold my drink
and all of that in the name of science
suffice to say
she had a lot in common with hypeshia
including her enthusiasm for
communicating science to
everyone let's start by setting our time
machine for 1006
years ago alexandria
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from a young age hypexia was a true
scholar
when i was a kid i was spending my time
failing at super mario and tetris
but hypieshia was learning math and
sciences
from her father theon nope not that fian
this tiana of alexandria hypeshia became
an expert in math
astronomy and philosophy wrote multiple
commentaries
on scientific pieces gave lectures about
plato and aristotle
you get the picture she was very
accomplished
hypiesha was out there crushing it she
was like
i'm not gonna sit in the corner of this
library that doesn't even have good
wi-fi
with this meh light and just talk to the
ghost of the books
i'm gonna be like the coolest ancient
science communicator
in town uh but obviously she thought
that she's a
modern science communicator because
ancient for us is modern for her
and then you get it you get it right
and she was like everyone is gonna come
to my classes leave
no one behind and everyone did from all
over the mediterranean for
all religions unlike some other teachers
in her time who were like
ew you're christian or jewish or pagan
don't even show your face around here so
basically hypeshia would take the heart
concepts from science books wear a cool
cloak
take a stroll in the streets and say oh
hello hello
you my friend it's public lecture time
do you think plato's words are too hard
to understand
just tell me what you want to know and
we'll talk it through
if she were a teacher today she would be
one of those that instead of like
you know giving a lecture and then
reading from her slides all the time
be like having a discussion group and
everyone would be having comments and
opinions
would be so nice remembering you
professor
would read from his slides all the time
i remember you
maybe she thought that science didn't
belong to a small group of people
to the elite or to the written words
locked up in the library it was for all
the same way stars don't belong to
anyone neither the shape of the moon
or the wonder of numbers maybe she saw
how the sciences connected us
rather than divided and maybe that's why
she was
as much of a science communicator as she
was a scientist
now being such a cool and
forward-thinking woman had its own
troubles
you see hypiesha was also buddies with
the roman governor of alexandria
orestes she would give him counsel and
advice
probably on small stuff like oristas
don't wear that toga you look like a
dork
and on other important matters of the
city
meanwhile orestes was dealing with some
major political rivalry
one of the people from the other side
tried to kill orestes
so ursus was like um rude
and killed him that got his rivals super
angry
and they were like oh it's all like
pichia's fault because she's a
she's poisoning his mind so
one very sad day they attacked hypeshia
in the street and brutally murdered her
this woman who loved science and made
sure others
no matter where they came from or who
they were could have access to science
too
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with this desire to find creative ways
to engage the public didn't die with
hypocia
it has moved through different women
across different centuries
including this science communicator
guardian of the trees
duchess of the canopy mistress of
ecology
nalini not carne i'm a forest ecologist
i study trees and forests around the
world
i really love sharing what i know about
trees and nature with all kinds of
people
from a young age nalini like hypeshia
was exploring the world around her
leading to a very endearing origin story
if i may say so myself
when i was a kid i used to climb trees
i'd come home from
elementary school and just climb one of
the eight big maples that
lined the driveway of my parents home
and it was there that i really felt
at home most of all i felt safe i felt
protected
it was kind of my own world there was
nobody else who was climbing trees
and i remember just loving trees and
loving the fact that they supported me
so i took a little oath when i was eight
or nine years old and i said
you know i'm gonna spend my life as a
grown-up trying to understand trees and
protect them
nellini is the original lorax from dr
seuss like
a scientist version of the lorax and
she just saves the trees by studying
them and basically what she studies is
how
plants and animals that live in tree
canopies
affect the undisturbed forest and how
you know things that people
do and humans do like changing the
climate or deforestations
change the forest as a whole so like it
would be the dream team just like
imagine
hypiesha is like wearing a cape running
around the streets just
spreading knowledge to everyone and then
the ladies dangling from a tree and
saving them and getting everyone else on
board it would be
the best team the tree lady
and the math woman excuse me what
i have zero talent coming up with
superhero names okay
the thing is both of these women had a
mission to make science more accessible
to everyone
for me communication about science is
really part of the scientific process
i mean a lot of people say oh the
scientific process is asking a question
and testing a hypothesis and gathering
data and then
writing a paper or giving a talk at a
scientific meeting but i i think it
doesn't stop there
until we actually communicate what we
have been privileged to learn
about the natural world nalini had this
experience once that really drove this
point home
i was giving a talk on a very cold
january night at the synagogue
and there was one man who was clearly a
homeless person
he had a bag that was full of his
clothes that was sitting next to him on
the pew
after i'd given my sermon about the
importance of trees to people of all
religions
and as for comments from the
congregation he stood up
and he said well i know that when i
stand
under a tree i feel drier
i feel warmer and so i think trees are
like god
i feel that by walking outside of my lab
by going away from my scientific field
site with my
laboratory and my gear and my
instrumentation and so forth and walking
into a church or walking into a prison
or walking into uh
any place where people maybe don't
traditionally engage with science but
where
science is as always all around them
i've been able to learn more about
the values of nature i once heard you
won't save what you don't love
and nalini loves the trees she made a
promise to save them
but saving nature is a collective job
and nalini realized
in order to get people to remember their
love for the trees
she has to get out of the lab and start
a conversation
nalini's legacy is not just saving trees
though
elena's legacy is connection connecting
us to
nature connecting us to the forest to
the trees
and to one another similarly hypieshia's
legacy
isn't just teaching math and science or
a journal named hypeshia about feminist
philosophy
or a hollywood movie or even cool
hypetesia merch her legacy like nalini's
is being a communicator an advocate of
science
sharing the wonders of the world and
making science accessible for all
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you