Kim Hill
05/08/08 12:32
DISTINGUISHED COMMUNICATOR LECTURE SERIES
KIM HILL:
Kim Hill is the undeniable star of radio in New Zealand – the voice of Radio New Zealand – where she has hosted such shows as Checkpoint, Morning Report, Nine to Noon, and, from 2002, Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill. In 2006, she was elected as a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand for her services in promoting science: a rare honour.
A crowd of 500 filled the St David Street Lecture Theatre to hear her address the topic: Is Science Something We Should Fear? For twenty minutes she made a strong, at times impassioned plea for scientists to become better at talking to the public and for the public to become more open, more tuned into science. For the next forty minutes she set about answering questions and rebutting propositions from the floor in her inimitable style.
Someone asked, if she could wave a magic wand what would she do to improve communication of science to the public? Kim’s answer: get scientists to become better storytellers. Get them to get off their high horses about exactitude and look to convey the meaning and the heart of science.
A true entertainer, Kim keep the audience with her – at times being uproariously funny, at times being ruthless in her condemnation of a point she did not agree with – and always, what shone through was her incredible intellect, how well-read she was, and her agile mind. Like the good radio host that she is, she proved herself the queen of the one-liners. But far from being glib, her arguments had an undeniable solidity to them: society needs science and not to focus on it out of fear is to open ourselves to the need to fear it. The more we can get to know science, the less we should fear it. And that, she said, requires much better communication of science.
It was all music to the ears of those teaching in the Centre for Science Communication.
