Shawn Carlson

{{Short description|American physicist (born 1960)}} {{Infobox person | name = Shawn Carlson | image = DrShawn.tiff | alt = A headshot of Shawn Carlson smiling while wearing a hat | caption = Dr. Shawn in his LabRats Uniform | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Los Angeles<ref name="macfellow">{{cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/604/|date=January 1, 2005|title=Shawn Carlson — MacArthur Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905040421/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/604/|archive-date=September 5, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=September 5, 2015}}</ref>}} | occupation = Physicist, science writer, and STEM educator | years_active = 1985–present | employer = | organization = | known_for = Society for Amateur Scientists, LabRats | works = "The Amateur Scientist" | boards = | awards = MacArthur Fellowship{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} | website =  | module = }} '''Shawn Carlson''' (born 1960) is an American physicist, science writer, and a STEM educator.

== Education ==

Carlson graduated from U.C. Berkeley with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Applied Mathematics and Physics in 1981.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} He graduated from UCLA with a master's degree in physics in 1983, and with a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics in 1989.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} As a post doc, Carlson ran the Leuschner Observatory for the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was chief observer for the Berkeley Automated Supernovae Search.<ref name="nytacw">{{cite news|last1=Dreifus|first1=Claudia|author-link1=Claudia Dreifus|date=January 23, 2001|title=A CONVERSATION WITH: SHAWN CARLSON; Just Like a Film Script, From Jobless to Genius|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/23/science/a-conversation-with-shawn-carlson-just-like-a-film-script-from-jobless-to-genius.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905061942/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/23/science/a-conversation-with-shawn-carlson-just-like-a-film-script-from-jobless-to-genius.html|archive-date=September 5, 2015}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Astrology test=== While an undergraduate, Carlson carried out a double-blind test of astrologers' abilities to extract information about their clients from the apparent positions of celestial objects as seen from the places and times of their clients' births.<ref name="CritThink">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Jonathan C.|title=Pseudoscience and extraordinary claims of the paranormal : a critical thinker's toolkit|year=2010|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Malden, MA|isbn=978-1-4051-8123-5}}</ref>

Carlson's experiment involved twenty-eight astrologers who were held in high esteem by their peers.<ref name="Carlson">{{cite journal|last=Carlson|first=Shawn|year=1985|title=A double-blind test of astrology|url=http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf|journal=Nature|volume=318|issue=6045|pages=419–425|bibcode=1985Natur.318..419C|doi=10.1038/318419a0|s2cid=5135208}}</ref> They agreed to match over 100 natal charts to psychological profiles that were generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), a standard and well accepted personality test, which the astrologers themselves identified as the scientific instrument that was best aligned with type of information they believed they could divine from their art. The astrologers agreed that the experimental protocol provided a "fair test" of astrology prior to taking part in it.<ref name="Carlson" />

The participating astrologers were nominated by the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), which acted as the astrological advisors to ensure that the test was fair.<ref name="Carlson" /> The astrologers came from Europe and the United States.<ref name="CritThink" /> The astrologers also identified the central proposition of natal astrology to be tested.<ref name="Carlson" />

The results were published in ''Nature'' on December 5, 1985. The study found that astrologers were unable to match natal charts to their corresponding personality tests better than chance. Moreover, astrologers were no more likely to be correct even when they had high confidence that they had made a match correctly. Carlson concluded that the result "clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis".<ref name="Carlson" />

=== Other activities ===

{{see also|Society for Amateur Scientists}} Carlson left academia in 1994 and founded the Society for Amateur Scientists.<ref name="nytacw" /><ref name="Rather">{{cite book|last1=Rather|first1=Dan|title=The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation|date=2001|publisher=William Morrow and Company|isbn=978-0-688-17892-5|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americandreamsto00rath/page/220 220–228]|chapter=Innovation|author-link1=Dan Rather|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/americandreamsto00rath/page/220}}</ref> He contributed to the columns "Science on Society" on The Humanist from 1990-1992,{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} "The Amateur Scientist" in ''Scientific American'' from 1995 to 2001,<ref name="nytacw"/> and "The Citizen Scientist" for ''Make'' magazine from 2005 to 2007.<ref name="kcdna">{{cite web|url=http://makezine.com/2010/01/13/flashback-kitchen-counter-dna-lab/|title=Flashback: Kitchen Counter DNA Lab|date=January 13, 2010|first1=Goli|last1=Mohammadi|work=Make|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907112640/http://makezine.com/2010/01/13/flashback-kitchen-counter-dna-lab/|archive-date=September 7, 2015|url-status=live|access-date=September 7, 2015}}</ref> In 2010, he launched LabRats Science Education Program, an organization that organizes activities for and encourages amateur scientists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://www.labrats.org/about-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812012622/https://www.labrats.org/about-us|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 12, 2020|access-date=2021-11-24|website=labrats|language=en}}</ref> He currently serves as Executive Director for the organization.<ref name=":0" />

==Awards== * 1999 MacArthur Fellows Program<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shawn Carlson |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-1999/shawn-carlson |access-date=2022-09-10 |website=www.macfound.org |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected works==

* {{cite book|title=Satanism in America: How the Devil Got Much More than His Due|location=El Cerrito, California|publisher=Gaia Press|date=1989|oclc=23006862}} * {{cite book|title=Core Concepts in Physics|location=New York|publisher=Saunders College Publishing|date=1998|isbn=978-0-03-023507-8}} * {{cite book|title=The Amateur Astronomer|location=New York|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date=2001|isbn=978-0-471-43699-7}} * {{cite book|title=The Amateur Biologist|location=New York|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date=2002|isbn=978-0-471-38281-2|url=https://archive.org/details/scientificameric00shaw}} * {{cite book|title=The Amateur Scientist: The Complete Collection on CD-ROM|location=Coventry|publisher=Tinker's Guild|date=2002|isbn=978-0-9703476-2-6}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/shawn-carlson/ "The Amateur Scientist Column, Scientific American magazine"] *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010721102530/http://labrats.org/ "LabRats Science Education project"]}} *[https://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Science-Education-Dr-Shawn-Carl "TEDx Talk, 2012 "Connecting the Dots to Your Future."] *[https://player.vimeo.com/video/65821006 "Introduction to Engagement Education."] {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Shawn}} Category:1960 births Category:21st-century American physicists Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Category:UCLA College of Letters and Science alumni Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Living people