A year and half ago, GQ magazine had launched a four page portfolio which was pairing up musicians with scientists for the Rock SOS campaign, in order to make science guys and gals as famous as Will.I.am, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, Joe Perry, Seal, Debbie Harris (Blondie), Bret Michaels, Timbaland, Keri Hilson, Jay Sean, Heart, or B.o.B.
What? No Bono? I know, a little too obvious, but I wonder who decided about these rock stars but some of these choices are quite weird, personally I was expecting Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and David Bowie.
Anyway, I am not sure the campaign worked,… how can you compare flamboyant and sexy rock and roll with obscure and complex science work?
First of all, science is anything but glamorous! When the rock star exposes himself on stage in front of thousands of people, the scientist works alone in his lab,… when rock music is made to be heard by the masses, science work is made to be read by only a few. How could a boring life in a lab only interrupted by seminaries, be the equivalent of a life around the world flying from hotel penthouse suites to glamorous parties? And I’m not even talking about the money!
If the average image of the researcher is that of a balding white male, rock stars can be anything, dress up and behave the way they want.
However, this has to change, after all, Einstein was the first science rock star, his famous tongue picture made him as famous as the Beatles or Dylan, and his iconic poster had its place on the walls of the college dorm among the greatest rock stars.
So if I had to pair my favorite living scientists with a rock star,…
Stephen W. Hawking (theoretical physicist) should pair up with Muse as he could explain them what is really a black hole.
James Watson (biologist and co-discoverer of DNA structure) should pair up with Ozzy Osbourne because he could really decide how much a Neanderthal Ozzy is.
Jane Goodall (biologist and primatologist) should pair up with Paul Simon because they both worked in Africa, and none of them faked it.
Richard Dawkins (zoologist, evolutionist and atheist) should pair up with Greg Graffin from Bad Religion,.. but wait, they already know each other!
Craig Venter (biologist entrepreneur) could pair up with any punk band, since he had that do it yourself attitude when he founded his own institute of research on the human genome.
Neil deGrasse Tyson (physicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium) should pair up with Roger Waters and they could discuss about the dark side of the moon.
Vilayanur Ramachandran (neurobiologist who came up with the theory of the phantom limb) should pair up with James Mercer, because he wrote of song of the same title!
Donald Johanson (paleoanthropologist) should pair up with Paul MacCartney to explain him why he named the famous primate fossil after ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’.
I know it’s a little silly.