André Croucamp is an educational media developer who creates comics, documentaries, lecture series, websites and museum installations to make science more accessible. When he is not “popularising science” he enjoys great food, movies, photography, travelling, as well as collecting art, ancient artefacts and fossils.
He also likes to devote a large portion of his time to thinking about the relationship between science and spirituality.
What sparked your interest in science?
I was a priest for a while, but I experienced formal religion as being much better at practising judgment than practising compassion. I began to feel that if you are going to judge someone and risk hurting them, or even destroying their lives, you better be sure that your judgment is based on something more than inherited tradition, superstition or some irrational prejudice that cannot be supported by any real evidence.
After all my searching and comparing various traditions I concluded that any system that relies on beliefs in supernatural powers to explain the world may be experienced as intensely meaningful, but ultimately cannot be tested, is unreliable and often dangerous. I found that believing that everything we experience is the result of natural causes made it possible for me to ask more useful questions, understand human suffering, build a growing and testable system of knowledge and make informed choices.
Was there a particular event or person that persuaded you to pursue a career in your specific field?
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a theologian and a palaeontologist. I was introduced to his writing when I was studying theology. When he tried to integrate the theory of evolution into Christian spirituality he realised that if human beings were related to other species in the great family tree of life, then there was no reason to believe in the separate creation of Adam and Eve. Believing this threatened St Augustine’s idea of original sin and “the fall of man”. As a result he was silenced by the Catholic Church, banned from teaching and from publishing. All his books were published after his death.
What is your field of specialisation?
I create media to make science more accessible to everyone. My media include comics, documentaries, lecture series, websites, museum installations, and so on. You could call what I do “popularising science”. Many people regard Charles Darwin as the first popular scientist writer. He wrote in a style that anyone could understand. You did not need any specialist knowledge to read his Origin of Species. This year is the 150th anniversary of the first popular science book.
What advice would you give young people interested in your field?
You do not have to have a degree in science to get involved in popularising science, but you do have to have accurate knowledge about science, so a degree in science is a great advantage.
To get involved in popularising science you have to have a passion for wanting to know what is going on. The ability to ask useful questions is the most important thinking skill there is. The really cool thing about science is that you don’t have to answer all the questions you are asking as many of them have been answered already — not by tradition, superstition or divine revelation, but by scientific method.
How can young people get involved in your area of specialisation?
There is no guaranteed step-by-step process for becoming a successful developer of popular science media. It requires some courageous and creative thinking and risk-taking. Ultimately you have to create something and test how other people value it.
André Croucamp factfile:
Age: 45, but I feel 18.
School attended: I matriculated from Boksburg High School in 1981 and then went to Rhodes University where I graduated with a degree in theology. Much later in life I studied further and eventually completed an MA in cognitive archaeology from Wits — looking at the evolution of the human brain.
I admire: Young people who are committed to studying even though they are in schools that are under-resourced, living in communities where studying is hard, taught by poorly trained and unmotivated teachers.
To these young people I want to say: Whatever happens, don’t stop learning. Whether you get the marks to get into university or not, whether you can afford to go to university or not, whether you study science as a subject or not, you can still enjoy the adventure of science and the amazing opportunities it offers you.