Courtesy of Frederik Questier and Yanna Van Wesemael.
In mid February, I attended and presented at the inaugural 2011 International Public Science Events Conference (IPSEC) in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the California Academy of Sciences. About 180 attendees gathered from all over the world to discuss the science café movement and its future direction. There were delegates from Italy, China, Japan, England, Egypt and the United States and the enthusiasm for the topic of science was tanamount. There were attendees from large science festivals and national movements down to organizers of intimate gatherings in local cafés and pubs.
The science café movement in the United States stems from a longer history in Europe. It all began with Café philosophique. It was a grassroots forum for philosophical discussion, founded by philosopher Marc Sautet in Paris, France in the 1990's.
This concept was applied to café scientifique in 1998. Duncan Dallas, café founder, got the idea for the scientific forum from reading the obituary of Marc Suatet. He set up his first meeting in a wine bar in Leeds, England. Café scientifiques started popping up all over England. Now café scientifique is a recognized international movement linking those interested with cafes - not only in England, but through the rest of the world.