Writing science for the public

AUG 01, 1970

As physics becomes more and more specialized, interpretation for the public becomes close to impossible; a professional journalist explains how he meets this challenge.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3022295

Walter Sullivan

AS WRITERS for general and scholastic audiences are discovering, young people today are more alert to scientific developments than ever before, whereas their elders in many cases have an utterly defeatist attitude. How tired are science writers of effusive, middle‐aged ladies who, trying to be kind, say: “What a fascinating job you have—of course I don’t understand what you write about but…”

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More about the Authors

Walter Sullivan. The New York Times.

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Volume 23, Number 8

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