By N.L. Sweeney
First popularized in the United States in the 1930s, comics have a long history of engaging the public. Whether in the daily funnies, in a superhero story or in a political cartoon, this mixed medium provides entertainment for young and old alike.
All fun aside, comics have also been used since their early days as a form of educational outreach.
Joey Shapiro Key, assistant professor in the School of STEM at the 糖心vlog视频, is following in this tradition by collaborating on a comic book about physics.
Sharing the research
is the unofficial 11th publication in a 10-book series written by Rebecca Thompson (herself a physicist) and published by the American Physics Society. The artists for this issue are Scott Arnold and Roel Torres.
Sporting the UW Bothell logo, this particular edition features Key鈥檚 research with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. LIGO, one of the largest and most ambitious projects funded by the National Science Foundation, engages more than 1,000 scientists to detect gravitational waves using lasers.
LIGO has installations in both Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. In 2015, the scientists used the LIGO facilities and laser technology to identify the convergence of two black holes, which matched predictions of Einstein鈥檚 general relativity.
Key鈥檚 hope with the new comic book is to expand the audience for the important work happening through LIGO.
鈥淎rtists have ways to communicate that many scientists don鈥檛,鈥 said Key. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why collaborations like this are so important.鈥
Assembling the team
In addition to her research and teaching at UW Bothell, Key serves as a data analyst for LIGO, for which she received a $400,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award this year. At LIGO, she leads research into methods of analysis. Currently, she and her team are working on identifying and analyzing data they want to use to measure supernovae, which are stellar explosions. (Yes, the explosions play a role in the comic book).
It was through this work that she met Thompson at an American Physics Society event. Thompson was doing outreach for the APS, through which the 鈥淪pectra鈥 comics series originally came to be. Finishing at 10 books, the series tells the story of a high school student who discovers she has the ability to become, create and control lasers.
鈥淚t seemed like a very natural collaboration,鈥 said Key. 鈥淚 told her, 鈥榊ou have a comic about a laser superhero, and we have a tool that uses laser technology for astronomical measurements. We should work together.鈥欌
To help fund the comic, Key received a grant from the UW Royalty Research Fund, which reinvests money gained from inventions. With these funds, Key was able to pay the comic book鈥檚 creative team and print copies of the finished product to share.
Friendly global outreach
This is the first time LIGO has been featured in a comic book, Key believes.
Normally, LIGO staff publish research papers and profiles of scientists, and host or attend a variety of science events. They also on occasion participate in artistic projects, including a blackhole sound installation, a multimedia theater event and the 鈥淎BCs of LIGO,鈥 a picture book of terms related to LIGO research.
All these efforts help increase scientific literacy and excitement about future discoveries. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 easy for us scientists to get caught in our own bubbles,鈥 said Key. 鈥淲ith a project like LIGO, outreach is a necessity. That鈥檚 why the 鈥楽pectra鈥 collaboration is so important.鈥
With the earliest data collected in 2002, LIGO is a multi-generational project, and Key is hopeful the LIGO edition of 鈥淪pectra鈥 will help expand interest in the ongoing work.
鈥淲e have to find ways to train our successors and excite them the same way we were when we first started our work here,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 do it alone.鈥
If you鈥檙e looking for a copy of the 鈥淪pectra鈥 comic, a limited number of free print copies will be available in UW Bothell鈥檚 gravitational wave astronomy discovery space (Discovery Hall 256). You can also look at the digital version PDF on the Physics Central website.
