PSW Science

PSW Science is one of the oldest scientific societies in Washington, DC founded in 1871 by Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. It presents 16-20 science lectures a year, free and open to the public with discussion during and after the lecture. Approximately 1200 to 1500 people attend each year; individual lecture attendance is approximately 80-200. There is a pre-lecture reception and dinner with the speaker before the lecture; dinner attendees pay an event fee to cover costs; attendance is 20-50 per lecture. The receptions and dinners are designed to provide ample opportunity for interaction among the attendees with the speaker, and many collaborations have been initiated at these gatherings. The lectures address the scientific issues of the day and there is robust discussion before, during, and after the lecture. The lecturers are usually leading scientists in the field or leaders of important scientific organizations. The lectures are in-depth and sophisticated, about an hour in length followed by a robust question and answer period of approximately 30 to 60 minutes. The lectures are geared to address three levels of discourse: professional scientists in the field of the lecturer, scientists in other fields, and others who are interested in the topic but are not scientific specialists. The lectures are not basic summaries or short popular-style snippets of information, but are designed to address the substantive technical nature of the work being presented. PSW Science has a strong interdisciplinary educational mission to bring together scientists and others who work in diverse fields and diverse institutions of academia, industry, and government so that they will benefit from discussion with others outside of their fields and institutions. PSW Science engages all areas of science, including both physical and life science, with lectures in the areas of astronomy, planetary and earth science, cosmology, biomedical science, chemistry and biochemistry, computer science, artificial intelligence, biology, chemistry, and engineering, to name just a few. Members and regular attendees work in industry, government, and academia. Many members and regular attendees work for or with federal agencies, such as NASA, NIST, NSF, DOE, and NIH. Members and regular attendees include students, young-career professionals, and established scientists. One of the primary goals of PSW Science is to provide an opportunity for students and younger professionals to meet and interact with prominent scientists.

PSW Science's educational outreach is substantial and multi-faceted. It live-streams its science lectures and posts them to its website and PSW Science YouTube and Vimeo channels, where the videos have been viewed close to a million times. In addition, approximately 20-100 people watch each live stream and participate in real-time in the discussion. There are hundreds of thousands of views of the lectures each year on the PSW Science channels with viewers located throughout the world. These viewers have the opportunity to see leading scientists in a field discuss the most important scientific issues of the day. This is a core part of the mission of PSW Science -- to provide science education to as many people as possible without charge.