Event details

Speaker:
Hari Sridhar (Writer in Residence / independent researcher) & Joyshree Chanam (both Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution & Cognition Research, Austria)

Abstract:

Writing scientific papers is, arguably, the most important task in a scientist’s working life. Papers are the universal currency by which all scientists are compared and evaluated, and, often, the only scientific legacies they will leave behind. Unfortunately, a paper is an imperfect record of scientific activity because it presents a cleaned-up, simplified and reorganized version of the scientific process, leaving out any detail that might distract the reader from understanding its findings and arguments. Over the last eight years, we have documented the stories behind 150+ landmark papers in Ecology and Evolution, through interviews with their lead authors. The interviews, as well as thematic exhibits built using the material, have been made publicly available online (https://reflectionsonpaperspast.com/). During this talk, we will present material from the website, as well as reflect on our motivation for this project and learnings over the years.