Natalie Portman - Scientist • Hacker News Board

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#11

Post by nickolai » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:47 PM UTC

weego wrote: post #3

ajays wrote: post #2

That was an interesting article. I wish more of the media would highlight Natalie Portman's scientific cred. The last sentence, "You can be a scientist, but if you want your name in lights, you’d better play one on TV." made me a little sad. Eventually, we get what we celebrate; if we celebrate being a cheerleader (or a beauty queen) more than being a scientist, then we'll get more of those. I don't know how much pro…

"I wish more of the media would highlight Natalie Portman's scientific cred" Can I ask why? It wouldn't make a difference to her performances, so if she chooses to not use her scientific creds why should anyone feel the need to mention them? It doesn't validate her as a person anymore than if she was a talented actress who used to be a waitress.

I'm not sure the idea was to validate her as a person. It was more to reprupose her from being a "beauty idol" to being a "scientist idol"

This is important if you beleive that 1) A society with more Scientist idols would get more scientists than one with more beauty queen idols 2) A society with more scientists would be a better place than if it had more beauty queens.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#12

Post by asolove » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:48 PM UTC

"Marie Curie - Actress" would have been more interesting.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#13

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:51 PM UTC

Anechoic wrote: post #8

He's not mentioned in the article, but Dylan Bruno from Numb3rs is an MIT grad (we both played on the football team) and, coincidentally, acted in a movie opposite Ms. Portman :) Woodie Flowers always used to say that we need an "LA Engineer" (a play on "LA Law for you younger folks) to bring science and engineering into the mainstream. I always cringe at shows like Big Bang Theory that portray smart folks as sociall…

[deleted]

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#14

Post by ErrantX » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:53 PM UTC

For the geeky types, she has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6 :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number...

EDIT: it is 6, not 5, sorry

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#15

Post by RiderOfGiraffes » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:58 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #14

For the geeky types, she has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6 :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number... EDIT: it is 6, not 5, sorry

I do so desperately want a small walk-on part in a film with Kevin Bacon to get an Erdős–Bacon number of 3.

I know, I know, it's hardly a worthy ambition. But still.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#16

Post by jhamburger » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 4:59 PM UTC

Anechoic wrote: post #8

He's not mentioned in the article, but Dylan Bruno from Numb3rs is an MIT grad (we both played on the football team) and, coincidentally, acted in a movie opposite Ms. Portman :) Woodie Flowers always used to say that we need an "LA Engineer" (a play on "LA Law for you younger folks) to bring science and engineering into the mainstream. I always cringe at shows like Big Bang Theory that portray smart folks as sociall…

Popular entertainment has tons of smart, cool people- Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab. How many times do you see a 'mission impossible' type hero who goes around kicking ass for most of the movie but suddenly turns into a hacker when he gets to a computer terminal?

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#17

Post by artmageddon » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:00 PM UTC

rdouble wrote: post #10

blhack wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can I ask why? Because it would encourage a lot of people to become interested in science.

It could also inspire people trapped in dead-end science careers to take acting lessons.

That could mean the end of silly Hollywood movie physics. Imagine the possibilities!

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#18

Post by kenjackson » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:01 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #13

Anechoic wrote: post #8

He's not mentioned in the article, but Dylan Bruno from Numb3rs is an MIT grad (we both played on the football team) and, coincidentally, acted in a movie opposite Ms. Portman :) Woodie Flowers always used to say that we need an "LA Engineer" (a play on "LA Law for you younger folks) to bring science and engineering into the mainstream. I always cringe at shows like Big Bang Theory that portray smart folks as sociall…

[deleted]

At one point the article says, "Ms. Portman is one of a handful of high-profile actors who happen to have serious scientific credentials, awards, degrees, patents and theorems in their name."

They go on to talk about some other people besides Natalie Portman.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#19

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:02 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #13

Anechoic wrote: post #8

He's not mentioned in the article, but Dylan Bruno from Numb3rs is an MIT grad (we both played on the football team) and, coincidentally, acted in a movie opposite Ms. Portman :) Woodie Flowers always used to say that we need an "LA Engineer" (a play on "LA Law for you younger folks) to bring science and engineering into the mainstream. I always cringe at shows like Big Bang Theory that portray smart folks as sociall…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#20

Post by HSO » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:03 PM UTC

StudyAnimal wrote: post #9

Come on, she is an actress with a BA in Psychology. Lets have this discussion again when she gets her PhD. Until then, perspective.

Exactly. I have no doubt she is very intelligent and _could_ have been a scientist if she had chosen to. But until she publishes her own peer-reviewed research or gets an advanced science degree, she is "an actress with a BA in psychology", thank you. She's impressive enough w/o artificial hype.