The Art of Science Communication with Ira Flatow

Tickets on sale Wednesday, December 10 at noon!

Join the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for an engaging discussion with Ira Flatow, award-winning science correspondent, television journalist, and the host of the public radio program Science Friday!

During this moderated Q&A, we'll discuss the art of science communication and explore how Ira spent his career working to make science and technology accessible, user-friendly, and “a topic for discussion around the dinner table” while inspiring people to care about global issues.

This program is part of the Linda and Les Vinney Know Your World Lecture Series.

Museum doors open at 6:30pm; the discussion will begin at 7pm. Beverages and grab-and-go items will be available for purchase in Origins Café before the program.

Tickets

Leadership Circle: $20*
Members: $25**
Nonmembers: $30

Early registration for Museum members will open at 9am on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Tickets will go on sale to the general public at noon. Tickets are limited to four per order. Sign up for our email list to receive updates on ticket sales!

*To learn more about joining the Leadership Circle, please contact Kelly Federico, Annual Fund Manager, at 216.231.4600 x3360 or kfederico@cmnh.org.
**Members: Please log in to your online Museum account to ensure access to discounted tickets. Your member discount will be reflected in your shopping cart.

Parking

Parking is available in the Museum's attached garage; standard rates apply. Find more information on directions and parking here.

About Ira Flatow

Award-winning science correspondent and TV journalist Ira Flatow is the host of the public radio program Science Friday, heard weekly on over 500 public radio stations and podcasts. It brings 2 million radio and Internet listeners worldwide a lively, informative discussion on science, technology, health, space, and the environment. Ira is also the founder and President of the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit company dedicated to creating audio, educational, and internet content that makes science “user-friendly.”

Ira Flatow describes his work as the challenge “to make science and technology a topic for discussion around the dinner table.” Flatow’s broadcasting career dates back 60 years, first working in high school television in 1965. He has shared his enthusiasm with public radio listeners for more than 55 years. As a reporter in college in 1969, and then as News Director at WBFO-FM/Buffalo, New York, Flatow began reporting while studying for an engineering degree at SUNY Buffalo. As NPR’s science correspondent from 1971 to 1986, Flatow found himself reporting from the Kennedy Space Center, Three Mile Island, and the South Pole. In one memorable NPR report, Flatow took All Things Considered host Susan Stamberg into a closet to crunch Wint-O-Green Lifesavers, proving they spark in the dark.

His most recent book is titled Present At The Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations On Science and Nature. On television, his numerous TV credits include co-starring three times on the CBS series The Big Bang Theory, six years as host for the Emmy-award-winning Newton’s Apple on PBS, and being a science reporter for CBS This Morning and cable’s CNBC. He has talked science on many TV talk shows including Merv Griffin, Today, Charlie Rose, and Oprah. He hosted a four-part PBS series called Big Ideas. He wrote, produced, and hosted Transistorized!, a documentary about the invention of the transistor on PBS.

On the Internet, Flatow has hosted numerous webcasts for Discovery Online and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In print, he has authored articles for various magazines, ranging from Woman’s Day to ESPN to American Lawyer and The New York Times Book Review. His commentary has appeared in The Los Angeles Times and Current newspapers.

Flatow has spoken at Rockefeller University, the World Economic Forum, Sun Microsystems, Cal Tech, MIT, Harvard, University of Wisconsin, OSHU, National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, and the Kentucky Author Forum. In 2004, he was a resident scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

His recent honors include: U.S. News Hall of Fame (2018), the Isaac Asimov Award (2012), the Nierenberg Prize (2010), membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (2008), National Science Teachers Association Faraday Science Communicator Award (2007), National Science Board Public Service Award (2005), World Economic Forum Media Fellowship (2005), AAAS Journalism award (2000), Brady Washburn Award (2000), and the Carl Sagan Award (1999). He has honorary doctorate degrees from SUNY Buffalo (2014) and Muhlenberg College (2013).

Ira Flatow’s hobbies include sourdough bread baking, raising orchids, chess, and poker. He is very good at the first two, but not so much at the others.