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11 JULY 2017 time 15:00
Colloquium
The role of rumors and social networks in the communication of the discovery of gravitational waves
Dr. Matteo Serra (Physicist and Scientific Disseminator)
Figure: Waveforms of the signal GW150914, collected by the two LIGO
interferometers of Hanford and Livingston on 14th September 2015.
ABSTRACT: The first direct observation of gravitational waves, announced
on 11st February 2016, was a great scientific event, able to get a media
impact with a few precedents in the history of scientific information.
But the route that led to the official announcement of the discovery
also represented a very intriguing case study from the point of view of
science communication: indeed, in the months that preceded the
announcement, some scientists (not belonging to the experiment) spread
several rumors through social networks, producing tangible effects on
researchers, media and public. This case can be considered paradigmatic,
because raises a very important issue in the *Big Science *era: how to
handle the communication of a great scientific discovery, when the
research involves thousands of people? And how to deal with online rumors,
whose rapid spread is substantially unavoidable?