Shawn Carlson (born 1960) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

, and a

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...

educator.

Education

Carlson graduated from U.C. Berkeley with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Applied Mathematics and Physics in 1981. He graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

with a master's degree in Physics in 1983, and with a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics in 1989. As a post doc, Carlson ran the Leuschner Observatory for the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, the United States Department of Energy. Located in ...

and was chief observer for the Berkeley Automated Supernovae Search.

Career

Astrology test

While an undergraduate, Carlson carried out a

double-blind In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...

test of astrologer's abilities to extract information about their clients from the apparent positions of celestial objects as seen from the places and times of their clients' births. Carlson's experiment involved twenty-eight astrologers who were held in high esteem by their peers. They agreed to match over 100 natal charts to psychological profiles that were generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), a standard and well accepted personality test, which the astrologers themselves identified as the scientific instrument that was best aligned with type of information they believed they could divine from their art. The astrologers agreed that the experimental protocol provided a "fair test" of astrology prior to taking part in it. The participating astrologers were nominated by the

National Council for Geocosmic Research The National Council for Geocosmic Research (N.C.G.R) is a non-profit educational organization formed to promote and raise the standards of education and research in astrology. It was founded in Brewster, Massachusetts, United States, on March 6, 1 ...

(NCGR), which acted as the astrological advisors to ensure that the test was fair. The astrologers came from Europe and the United States. The astrologers also identified the central proposition of natal astrology to be tested. The results were published in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

'' on December 5, 1985. The study found that astrologers were unable to match natal charts to their corresponding personality tests better than chance. Moreover, astrologers were no more likely to be correct even when they had high confidence that they had made a match correctly. Carlson concluded that the result "clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis".

Other activities

Carlson left academia in 1994 and founded the

Society for Amateur Scientists The Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS) was a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to "helping ordinary people do extraordinary science". It was the first organization ever created for the generalists of citizen science. Rather than supporti ...

. He contributed to the columns "Science on Society" on The Humanist from 1990-1992, "

The Amateur Scientist "The Amateur Scientist" was a column in the ''Scientific American'', and was the definitive "how-to" resource for citizen-scientists for over 72 years (1928–2001), making it the longest running column in ''Scientific American''s history. The col ...

" in ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' from 1995 to 2001, and "The Citizen Scientist" for '' Make'' magazine from 2005 to 2007. In 2010, he launched LabRats Science Education Program, an organization that organizes activities for and encourages amateur scientists. He currently serves as Executive Director for the organization.

Awards

* 1999

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

Selected works

* * * * *

References

External links

"The Amateur Scientist Column, Scientific American magazine""LabRats Science Education project""TEDx Talk, 2012 "Connecting the Dots to Your Future.""Introduction to Engagement Education."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Shawn 1960 births 21st-century American physicists UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni MacArthur Fellows Living people