Article content Joe Schwarcz has heard all manner of wild scientific claims over the years: makers of alkaline-water machines, sometimes costing many thousands of dollars, professing their products to be a cure for cancer, or bona fide doctors claiming that vaccines magnetize people. These declarations may leave Schwarcz aghast, but hardly speechless. For the last 25 years, McGill University’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), which Schwarcz has led from the outset, has been at the forefront of seeking to debunk pseudo-science.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the OSS will stage a free fact-finding event Thursday at 7 p.m. at McGill’s Leacock Building.
In conversation with Josh Freed , Schwarcz — a McGill chemistry prof, Gazette columnist , author and broadcaster — will reflect on the evolution of separating sense from nonsense. He’ll even perform some magic. Unfortunately, Schwarcz’s magic skills stop short of ridding us of charlatans.
“I really wish I could do that kind of magic,” he says. “Instead, I’ll be performing a trick I first learned when I was 12 years old that legitimately got me interested in both chemistry and in magic.” In the ensuing years, Schwarcz’s articles, videos, lectures and radio shows — produced by the OSS — are estimated to have reached over 100,000 people weekly.
The annual fall Trottier Public Science Symposium , hosted by the OSS and attracting expert academics and scientists from all corners of the world, reaches.
