Science's World Series.

[dstebbins]

You know how the World Series is the grandest stage of them all for baseball, like the Super Bowl for football, or E3 for video games? What would be that equivilant for science? I'm assuming it would be something some non-profit committee puts together where scientists from all over the world showcase their studies and discoveries, but what's it called? Where's it located? When does it take place? Curiosity like this drives me crazy, so please respond ASAP.

[Klaynos]

I'm going to go for the obviouse, nobel prize.... Have a look on wikipedia about who awards each of the prizes.

[swansont]

There are also conferences where you showcase/discuss your research.

[dstebbins]

So let's say in the future, I've got my Ph.D in theoretical physics, and I make a discovery that could be groundbreaking. How would I get this discovery known to the scientific community?

 

I've heard about papers being written, but who publishes these papers, and how do scientists get access to them? How are they advertised?

[Dak]

E3 for video games

 

E3 doesn't just showcase games, it also showcases computer game technology. i haven't followed it since i was a kid, but i remember several E3s ago, starfox was showcased, not just as a game, but as a 'new' technique in 3D graphics. i scare-marked 'new' because it basically used several shaded polygons to create a 3d image, which is something ye olde computer game 'elite' did (which came out for PC before NESs were made), but starfox actually included some hardware (superFX chip in the game cart) that was designed to handle shaded polygons, and advances in the programming techniques (iirc, the techniqes were designed for NASA, for space-ship simulation).

 

so, computer science is showcased in places like E3. automative engeneering is probably showcased in car's equivelent of E3, whatever that may be.

 

basicaly, there isn't really a 'science E3', but individual branches of science usually have their own expo where innovations can be found. i cant remember the name, but i think there's a 'gadget expo' that showcases stuff like phones, ipods, etc, for example.

[swansont]

So let's say in the future, I've got my Ph.D in theoretical physics, and I make a discovery that could be groundbreaking. How would I get this discovery known to the scientific community?

 

I've heard about papers being written, but who publishes these papers, and how do scientists get access to them? How are they advertised?

 

 

You'd submit it to e.g. one of the Physical Review journals that was appropriate to the topic. (published by the American Physical Society) Science libraries, research institutions and some individuals subscribe to the journals, and people try to read the articles in their field.

[abskebabs]

I think the Solvay conferences especially in the years during the early development of qunatum mechanics and relativity attained a high importance, like the 1st one in 1911, where relativity would have been the main subject of discussion. The most famous one by far though was the 5th conference in 1927.

 

I am unsure as to how important or relevant they are to the development of modern science today though. There has probably been a great enough proliferation of such conferences toda that, there is little chance of there being "one big event".

[Pangloss]

I think we're on to something here!

 

So what we need to do now is organized all the conferences and journals into a league system, with centralized administration and judging (and statistics-keeping). We can also have a farm system at the high school level. And each year we can end the "science season" with a round of playoffs ending with a trip to the "Science Bowl".

 

Every four years each country can send its best thinkers to a world competition held in some country based on a bidding system. The participants will stay in the "Aesthete's Village", and during their off time they can impress each other with their... mental prowess in the dormitories.

 

Anybody want to join my Fantasy Science league?

[CharonY]

Given the mindset of many scientists that I know, the younger ones won't acknowledge anyone better than themselves, older ones do not acknowledge the existance of competitors ;P