Natalie Portman - Scientist • Hacker News Board

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#21

Post by Anechoic » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:03 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]

It's about Natalie Portman.

"handful of high-profile actors who happen to have serious scientific credentials"

Hedy Lamarr, Danica McKellar, Mayim Bialik, and Leonard Nimoy all get substantial mentions in the article. The article is framed around Ms. Portman but the inclusion of the other actors indicate that it is not just about her. Certainly Dylan (who has actually performed with Ms. Portman) is more relevant than the other actors who, AFAICT, have not.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#22

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:05 PM UTC

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…

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Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#23

Post by kenjackson » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:07 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.

The point wasn't the degree. But more that she made the semifinals of the Intel Science Talent Search -- that in itself is prestigious, but at the same time (and I quote):

"She’d been in films directed by Woody Allen, Tim Burton and Luc Besson, appeared opposite Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore and I’m getting tired of typing celebrity names here. She took on the major role of Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy that rocketed her to international fame."

To be honest, I'm not sure there's any degree where the mere act of receiving it would be more impressive than the above feat.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#24

Post by ajju » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:07 PM UTC

In honor of her scholarly pursuits, beauty and skill as an actor, we gave one of our products the internal codename 'Natalie' last year.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#25

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:11 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

#26

Post by eru » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:14 PM UTC

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #15

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.

Have you tried asking him? A hand-written letter might just work.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#27

Post by brown9-2 » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:15 PM UTC

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out another "scientist" (minor) actor not mentioned in this article:

- speaks Swedish, English, Spanish, some German, some French, some Japanese, and some Italian

- awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

- has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney (1982)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_lundgren

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#28

Post by ciupicri » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:16 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.

I'm more impressed by Dolph Lundgren - an action movie actor - who has a MS in Chemistry and who was studying for a PhD when he decided to become an actor.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#29

Post by Jun8 » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:16 PM UTC

"Hedy Lamarr complained bitterly that people would look at her face and assume there was nothing behind it. Perhaps it was a case of projection. “When you see a very beautiful face, it’s stunning, and you yourself become stupefied,” said Lisa Heiserman Perkins, who has completed a documentary about Lamarr. “So you project your own stupidity onto the person you’re looking at.” "

Now, maybe I'm projecting my own stupidity to this remark but it just seems hare-brained. This effect is very easy to understand: many beautiful people you've met before have little/no interest in science, i.e. appear to be stupid, so your subconscious Bayesian learner assigns a low probability to the gorgeous woman you see having invented a new spread spectrum technique.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#30

Post by poet » Tue, Mar 01, 2011, 5:17 PM UTC

HSO wrote: post #20

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.

She has published peer reviewed research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi... (her actual name is Natalie Hershlag). One of the co-authors is Jerome Kagan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kagan. Seems good enough to me. Certainly not a career scientist; very few would be with another venture making millions. But she has walked the walk. There's no hype here.