Running head: THE MEDIA’S ROLE ON SCIENTISTS AND SCIENCE 1
The Media’s Role on Scientists and Science
Kristina Berhow
Kaplan University
THE MEDIA’S ROLE ON SCIENTISTS AND SCIENCE 2
The Media’s Role on Scientists and Science
Did you know that a lot of the current technologies that we use today have been inspired
by a science fiction novel or movie? H. G. Wells wrote about automatic doors and rockets long
before they were ever invented along with other authors who wrote about virtual reality,
submarines, and even Tasers. Star Trek has also been used in reference to a few inventions that
we now use such as our cell phones and even our touch screen computers. But who actually
invents the technology and makes it work? Scientists have been around for decades making
science fiction ideas into realities. While a science fiction novel or movie may not be reality, the
media involved is immensely compelling and has impacted individuals’ conclusions on Scientists
and the science behind their work.
If you search the Internet for images of a scientist, numerous pictures appear showing
men and women in white lab coats, latex gloves, and are wearing eye-glasses or goggles. Then if
you search the Internet for images of scientists in science fiction, you get to scroll through
images of cartoon drawings and science fiction characters all dressed in white or black lab coats,
wild hair styles, evil looks on their faces, some type of glove on their hands, and wearing eye-
glasses or goggles. When I start to think about what a scientist might look like, I picture an older
gentleman with crazy looking hair, a mustache of some kind or beard, and always close to a
chalk board or notebook. Examples of what I picture would be Doc from ‘Back to the Future’,
Albert Einstein, Victor Frankenstein from ‘Frankenstein’, Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo Da
Vinci. My thought on what a scientist might look like has not really changed a lot over the years.
Even though as a child I did not know what a scientist really looked like, I was showed pictures
in school and believed that what the teachers showed me was real.
