Astronomy for the Masses

Abstract

This talk is about the importance of educating the wider population generally about science, and why astronomy is a suitable vehicle for doing this. As you know, the world is composed of two classes of people. The first class consists of an ever-growing number of people of above-average intelligence, usually strongly motivated, highly competitive, generally well cared for and given the latest tools to work with. Because they are also hard workers they either get fast results or at least learn a lot about why they can't get results. When they do get results, they soon build on those results to get more results, so their progress is fast. These people share a common goal, which is to acquire knowledge. They are called scientists.