Science Writing: Explanatory Writing

George Johnson

George Johnson has written about science for The New York Times for more than 25 years. He is the author of nine books, including “The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments,” “Miss Leavitt’s Stars”, and “Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics.” Three were finalists for the Royal Society Science Book Prize.
A two-time winner of the AAAS Science Journalism Award, he is co-founder and co-director of the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop and a former Alicia Patterson fellow.

When he was 15–16 years old, he tried to learn guitar but failed at it. He was more interested in the amplitude of signals and electronics. He gave very novel advice for science writers. To understand anything, divide the whole system into smaller parts and study them. Begin by treating each part as a black box that takes a certain input and produces an output depending upon it. Then slowly try to unwrap layers around that black box. He used the same approach to describe the working of neurons.

He also wrote that science writers shouldn’t be afraid of using simple mathematical equations in their article. The aim is to reach linguistically as close to the research as possible. Also, keep the reader engaged by not bombarding him with too many facts.

A science writer is ultimately an illusionist. The conjuring is in the service of a noble cause: getting as close as linguistically possible to scientific truth.