Michael Nielsen: Open Science Now!

Scientists need to share. That’s the premise presented in this 2011 TED Talk: Open Science, by Michael Nielsen, a quantum physicist turned writer who sees the need for a second revolution of open science that translates to the data science world. Using the Polymath Project as an example, Nielsen describes how the online collaboration of mathematicians across the world through a blog site resulted in the resolution of a complex mathematical problem in a matter of 37 days— something that otherwise may have taken years.

Due to today’s available technologies, Nielsen sees incredible potential for immediate global collaboration that could advance science at a rate never thought possible. He notes that the current scientific culture, where knowledge hoarding is so prevalent, is a barrier that needs to be overcome. Nielsen wants to propel an open science revolution by changing the values of individual scientists, so that they view the sharing of ideas as a responsibility and requirement of their roles.

A quantum physicist turned writer, Michael Nielsen sees a revolution in scientific discovery through the use of online communication and collaboration tools. This Fulbright Scholar is the co-author of Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, as well as the author of the recent Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science.