Actor Alan Alda Leads Crusade Against Medical and Science Jargon

One of the things actor Alan Alda was known for during his many years working as surgeon Hawkeye Pierce on the TV show "M.A.S.H." was humanizing the Korean War, helping to make the experiences of battle more accessible to the masses.

Now the award-winning Alda, who was recently presented with Delaware's 2013 Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts, is on a mission to teach physicians, physicists and scientists set aside their volumes of eye-crossing medical and research terminology and make their points in clearer, simpler language.

"There's no reason for the jargon when you're trying to communicate the essence of the science to the public, because you're talking what amounts to gibberish to them," said Alda, 77, founder and visiting professor of journalism at the Stony Brook University Center for Communicating Science, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Alda, who also formerly hosted the long-running PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers" and as well wrote and directed several "M.A.S.H." episodes, asserts a better understanding of science can improve society in both big and small ways.

With more easily-understood language, he suggested, physicians, will be able to better explain treatments to patients, consumers will have more success deciphering the chemicals contained in food and other products and lawmakers --- one can only hope --- will be able to make better-informed decisions about funding scientific research.  

Members of Congress are "not going to ask the right questions if science doesn't explain to them what's going on in the most honest and objective way," Alda said. "You can't blame them for not knowing the jargon - it's not their job. Why would anybody put up money for something they don't understand?"

Alda, who lives in New York City and has a home on eastern Long Island, explained to the AP that as his 12-year hosting stint with "Scientific American Frontiers" was winding down in 2005, he began looking for a university interested in his idea for a center focused on communicating science.

Stony Brook, a 24,000-student state university about 70 miles east of Manhattan, "was the only place that understood what I was trying to say," he said.

So, the Long Island center was opened in 2009 and about a week ago was officially renamed the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.

"Alan did not casually lend his celebrity to this effort," said Stony Brook President Samuel Stanley. "During the past four years, he has traveled thousands of miles championing its activities. ... He has helped train our faculty and develop our curriculum, and he personally teaches some workshops."

Since the center's inception, continued Stanly about Alda, "he has been a tireless and full partner."