'Scientists Who Made a Difference' series … Nicholas Copernicus was an interesting renaissance man who overcame the existing paradigm placing earth in the center of the solar system to the new paradigm of a heliocentric view that earth and the planets revolved around the sun. This perspective led to the Copernican revolution which occurred after Copernicus died in 1543 and published his book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres).

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Scientists whose work has affected society are noteworthy for their abilities to a) produce good scientific results, b) effectively communicate these results to broad audiences and c) affect decisions and perspectives of society. These noteworthy scientists will be celebrated in this blog series on 'Scientists who made a difference'. Of the four pillars of scholarship defined by Boyer in 1990 (Scholarship Reconsidered:

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Science communication using visual elements can convey unambiguous information that words cannot. Words are often used by lawyers and journalists to argue cases or make points - science is an attempt to base arguments on all the facts available, not just the 'convenient' facts used to support an argument. Words can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but data is less ambiguous.

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A well conceived and creatively constructed map can elucidate scientific concepts and effectively communicate important concepts. There are many examples of beautiful maps focusing on various geographic features, but this collection of classic scientific maps is notable for the scientific meaning that they convey. They are presented in chronological order. 1) Gulf Stream:

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We had beautiful views of the Roebling Bridge from our workshop developing a Mississippi River report card in Covington, Kentucky. After the workshop was over, Bill Nuttle and I walked across the Roebling Bridge from Kentucky to Ohio. The Roebling bridge was built during the Civil War and completed in 1866. At this time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, although now there are 121 longer suspension bridges in the world.

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A large IAN contingent gathered along the banks of the Ohio River for the second in a series of workshops designed to develop a report card for the Mississippi River. Heath Kelsey, Bill Nuttle, Caroline Wicks, Brianne Walsh and I collaborated with our colleagues at America's Watershed Initiative to run a workshop in a Covington, Kentucky hotel with fantastic views of the Ohio River, with the Cincinnati skyline as a backdrop.

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The Swedish embassy organized a two day conference, "The Economics of the Ocean", which occurred at the House of Sweden, located at the confluence of Rock Creek and the Potomac River. The House of Sweden conference room was all windows, with superb views of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, the Francis Scott Key bridge, Roosevelt Island, Kennedy Center, and the Watergate Hotel.

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The Changing Course competition will stimulate discussion about the future course of the Mississippi River near its mouth. Large areas of wetlands have converted to open water in the delta of the Mississippi over the past 30 years. A changing climate and accelerating sea level rise are expected to make the problem of land loss worse and increase impacts on coastal communities.

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I attended a fundraiser event, sponsored by the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy at the Avalon Theatre in Easton Maryland on 22 November. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival was started in 2003 by a watershed advocacy group based in California, the South Yuba River Citizens League. This group holds an annual three day event in Nevada City, CA, but then sponsors a one night festival which has spread to over 100 communities nationally.

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Classic conceptual diagrams are those 'thought drawings' that have been judged over time to be effective ways to communicate knowledge. Classic diagrams are emulated repeatedly and appear in text books and in popular media. In order to select a diverse top ten list from many worthy candidates, I selected a representative diagram from different fields of study. The list is presented in chronological order, with the first conceptual diagrams at the beginning of the list. 1. Astronomy:

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