When Branestawm met McGonagall
When scientists write poetry, the results can be every bit as risible as when arty types get out of their depth in the scientific. Here’s an example par excellence: Stevan Harnad, Professor in Computing at Southampton University, is also a tireless campaigner for Open Access to scientific research. A worthy cause, for which he has also written a poem, called “Publish Or Perish”.
It won a prize: €300 from the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF2006) Poetry Competition, sponsored by the Andrea von Braun Stiftung in Munich, 2006. In other words, a panel of German scientists was very impressed with this poem in English. Wirklich wunderbar!
I’m not going to print it here. Follow this link to it, gentle reader, if you dare. One word of warning before you go there:
C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre poésie!