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The Vega Science Trust was a
not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organisation which provided a platform from which
scientists A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...
can communicate directly with the public on
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
by using
moving image A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, sound and other related means. The Trust closed in 2012 but the website and streaming video remains active (based at
Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...
).


History

Founded in 1995 by
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
Sir Harry Kroto and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Education Producer Patrick Reams the Vega Science Trust was awarded a COPUS start-up grant from the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1995 and then went on in 1999 to be allocated core funding from the
Office of Science and Technology The Office of Science and Technology (OST), later (briefly) named the Office of Science and Innovation, was a non-ministerial government department of the British government between 1992 and 2007. The office was responsible for co-ordination of ...
(OST). Starting with recording science programmes for terrestrial television the Vega Science Trust produced a number of programmes such as recordings of
Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
Discources which were broadcast on
BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
and a set of Masterclasses. In 2001 Harry Kroto was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize - the UK's premier award for science communication 'for his dedication to the notion of working scientists being communicators of their work and in particular for his establishment of the Vega Science Trust whose films and related activities reflect the excitement of scientific discovery to the public'. The Trust went on to co-produce with the BBC
Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
a set of science discussion programmes covering hot topics such as
Stem Cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
,
Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
,
Mobile Phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
,
GM Food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...
,
Disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
,
Nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
and
Ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
. With the BBC/Open University the Trust also produced with sponsorship from HEFCE Widening Participation Team a set of award-winning career programmes featuring young scientists. Both series were broadcast on BBC2. Very early audio-visual recordings of individual scientists are relatively rare but in the recent past some recordings were carried out by such organisations as the BBC. In 1997 the Vega Science Trust embarked on a plan to record in-depth interviews with scientists such as Rotblat, Sanger,
Perutz Perutz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Leo Perutz (1882–1957), Czech-Austrian novelist and mathematician * Max Ferdinand Perutz (1914–2002), Austrian-British molecular biologist * Robin Perutz, son of Max, chemist * Ott ...
,
Cornforth Cornforth is a village in County Durham, England. It is adjacent to the village of West Cornforth, situated a short distance to the north-east of Ferryhill. Before the middle part of the Victorian era, when coal mining was at its height in Cou ...
,
Walter Kohn Walter Kohn (; March 9, 1923 – April 19, 2016) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the unde ...
and Richard Ernst which could be both viewed and preserved as an historical record for the future. More recently the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
embarked on a similar project of recording audio-visual interviews under the National Life Stories project although at present their archive consists of oral recordings of scientists. The Vega Science Trust's in-depth interviews with scientists led onto a project recording interviews with Nobel Laureates attending the annual
Nobel Laureate Meetings at Lindau The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings are annual scientific conferences held in Lindau, Bavaria, Germany, since 1951. Their aim is to bring together Nobel laureates and young scientists to foster scientific exchange between different generations, ...
in 2004/5/6. In 2006 the Vega Science Trust's website received a special mention at The International Association for Media Science Awards. In 2007 the Vega Science Trust started on-going work with
Jonathan Hare Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...
BBC
Rough Science Parameters ''Rough Science'' is a British documentary reality television series made by the BBC in collaboration with the Open University. Six series were made between 2000 and 2005. It was broadcast in prime time on BBC Two and is considered so ...
on a series of short instructional films intended to show how things work. For instance a number of the films show how we can generate
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
, another shows how we can generate
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
, others the
molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...
structure of C60, carbon
nanotube A nanotube is a nanometer-scale hollow tube-like structure. Kinds of nanotubes * BCN nanotube, composed of comparable amounts of boron, carbon, and nitrogen atoms * Boron nitride nanotube, a polymorph of boron nitride * Carbon nanotube, includes g ...
s and
graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.
. From 2007-2010 the Trust concentrated on bringing to the public's attention the process of science research. The Nano2Hybrids EU STReP project for instance was an innovative project where research scientists recorded their own progress on a research project to invent a gas sensor made using carbon nanotubes. In addition recording science in society projects such as Women in Nanotechnology and Diversity illuminate work towards promoting women scientists into decision making positions in science research environments. The Vega Science Trust closed in March 2012 after 17 years of operation. However, the website will continue to host the existing film archive.


Governance

The Vega Science Trust was governed by a board of five
Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
s who are active research scientists, media, copyright, and educational specialists. Trustees step down and/or are re-elected each year. The Vega Science Trust employed one member of staff (and for a period, a second technical member) and operated in a mixed economy of core grant-in-aid support from
Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
, and from
research grant A grant is a fund given by an end entity grant – often a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a loc ...
s and
sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
. It was an independent body with its own self-contained offices, initially in the University of Sussex chemistry department, and later at the Innovation Centre,
University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...
,
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
.


Vision

The Vega Science Trust aimed to see science more fully integrated into our everyday culture. Vega's vision has been to do so by providing a platform from which scientists can broadcast science programmes directly to the public. Activities * Recording scientists. :Covering a wide array of research. * Making available to the public by streaming from the Vega Science Trust's website. :Videos stream in different formats. * Creating an historical archive of some of the world's most eminent scientists. :Interviewing Nobel Laureates and other eminent scientists. * Experimenting with new ways of outreaching/engaging with the public via audio-visual means. :Creating different programme formats. * Provide on-line science resources for school, university and the public via informal learning. :Creating informative videos for imparting scientific concepts. Vega Science Trust Collection The collection of recordings also acts as an historical record and archive of world scientists and their research discoveries. Recorded to broadcast quality they provide a valuable collection, much of which is open to the public via the Vega Science Trust's website.


Video clips


Vega Science Trust YouTube channel


References

{{Reflist


External links


Vega Science TrustNobel Meeting at LindauCreative Science Centre
Educational organisations based in the United Kingdom Science education