Biography:Dianna Cowern

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Short description: American science educator and YouTuber
Dianna Cowern
DiannaCowern.png
Cowern during Vidcon 2018
Personal information
BornDianna Leilani Cowern
(1989-05-04) May 4, 1989 (age 35)[1]
Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)[1][2]
OccupationScience communicator
Websitephysicsgirl.org
YouTube information
Also known asPhysics Girl
Physics Woman[3]
Channels
Years active2011–present
GenreScience education
Subscribers3.08 million
Total views358 million
NetworkPBS Digital Studios (2015–2020)
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2015
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2018
Updated 31 December 2023

Dianna Leilani Cowern (born May 4, 1989) is an American science communicator. She is a YouTuber; she uploads videos to her YouTube channel Physics Girl explaining various physical phenomena. She worked in partnership with the PBS Digital Studios from 2015 until 2020, when she discontinued her partnership.[4] She has collaborations with other YouTube personalities, including fellow science communicator Derek Muller of the channel Veritasium, maker Simone Giertz, and mathematics animator Grant Sanderson of 3Blue1Brown.

Early life and education

Cowern was born May 4, 1989, and raised on Kauai island in Hawaii.[5][6][7] At that time, her father was a tree farmer and her mother ran a bed and breakfast.[8]

Through most of her early education Cowern was fascinated by mathematics.[8] While in high school, she was inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson and became interested in communicating science.[9] She studied physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science.[9] During her time at MIT she researched dark matter.[10]

Career

After graduation, Cowern was a research fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian where she researched low-metallicity stars.[10] Cowern began as outreach coordinator at University of California at San Diego's Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences research unit.[1] She started making science videos while working as a mobile app developer at General Electric.[10]

She started her channel Physics Girl on October 21, 2011.[11] In an interview with Grant Sanderson, she said that some of the earlier videos were later deleted from the channel.[8]

Cowern has also participated in various events as a speaker. In 2015, she participated in a conference organized by the U.S. News & World Report.[12] In February 2017, she gave a talk at Google titled "Becoming YouTube's Physics Girl".[13] In 2018, she gave a keynote at CAST 2018 and at STEMtastic.[14][15][16]

In December 2017, she was featured in an interview in APS News.[17] Cowern has been featured in the Huffington Post, Slate, and Scientific American blogs.[18][19]

On September 25, 2020, Cowern announced on her YouTube channel that she would be ending her five-year partnership with PBS Studios.[20]

On June 23, 2022, she announced she would be producing a science-based talk show for Curiosity Stream's Originals called Proof of Concept.[21] The show started streaming in August 2022.[22]

(As of July 2023), she has over 221 million views on YouTube and over 2.74 million subscribers.[11] On TikTok, in March 2023, she has over 2.8 million likes and over 176,000 followers.[23]

Awards

In 2014, she won the top video prize from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.[1]

In 2018, Cowern won a Webby Award for Best Web Personality.[24] A year later she was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 in the category of education.[25]

Personal life

In May 2022, Cowern announced that she had recently married.[26]

In July 2022, Cowern reported that she had developed long COVID. She was hospitalized in March 2023, as her symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome continued to worsen.[27][28][29][30][31] Her health has not recovered as of December 2023.[32]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 McDonald, Kim (June 5, 2014). "UC San Diego's 'Physics Girl' Wins National Competition". http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/uc_san_diegos_physics_girl_wins_national_competition. 
  2. Lanning, Carly (March 18, 2015). "YouTube's Physics Girl is science-loving superhero". http://www.dailydot.com/upstream/physics-girl-youtube-wcw/. 
  3. From her legacy YouTube username: "Physics Girl - YouTube". https://www.youtube.com/physicswoman. 
  4. "Physics Girl". PBS Digital Studios. https://www.youtube.com/user/physicswoman. 
  5. "Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl) | VidCon US". http://vidcon.com/people/475/dianna-cowern-physics-girl/. 
  6. (in en) The Unusual Formation of the Hawaiian Islands, https://weta.org/watch/shows/physics-girl/unusual-formation-hawaiian-islands, retrieved 2023-03-04 
  7. Reddy, Naveen (2022-04-11). "Inspiring Biography of Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl) (Wiki) - Youth Motivator" (in en-US). https://youthmotivator4life.com/dianna-cowern-biography/. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Dianna Cowern: Dead or Alive" (in en), 3b1b Podcast 4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puXKFn-nKis, retrieved 2023-03-04 
  9. 9.0 9.1 "Meet Physics Girl, the YouTuber who makes a living explaining science" (in en). Science | AAAS. March 16, 2017. https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-physics-girl-youtuber-who-makes-living-explaining-science. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Education, P. B. S. (October 26, 2019). "Why Being Held Back Was the Push Forward I Needed". https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/why-being-held-back-was-the-push-forward-i-needed. 
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Physics Girl - YouTube". https://www.youtube.com/@physicsgirl/about. 
  12. "Dianna Cowern – U.S. News STEM Solutions" (in en-US). U.S. News STEM Solutions. http://usnewsstemsolutions.com/speakers/dianna-cowern/. 
  13. Cowern, Dianna (February 7, 2017), Dianna Cowern: "Becoming YouTube's 'Physics Girl'" | Talks at Google, Talks at Google, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMrzEJDJCAA, retrieved February 6, 2018 
  14. "News: CAST 2018 Keynote Speaker". https://www.statweb.org/index.php?option=com_dailyplanetblog&view=entry&category=cast&id=2:news-cast-2018-keynote-speaker. 
  15. "Featured Speakers". https://s6.goeshow.com/sam/cast/2018/featured_speakers.cfm. 
  16. "'Physics Girl' Dianna Cowern to speak at Ventura County STEM network's STEMtastic! celebration - News Releases - CSU Channel Islands". https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2018-stemtastic-celebration.htm. 
  17. Gaal, Rachel (December 2017). "YouTube's Physics Girl". APS News 26 (11): 2, 7. http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201712/physics-girl.cfm. Retrieved December 13, 2017. 
  18. "Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl)" (in en-US). http://www.calentertainment.com/portfoliotype/dianna-cowern-physics-girl/. 
  19. PBS Digital Studios (November 18, 2016), Searching for Dark Matter | Dianna Cowern | PBSDS Nerd Night 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjs3Qu92LC8, retrieved February 6, 2018 
  20. Cowern, Dianna (September 25, 2020). Why it's impossible to make a red bubble… or IS it?!. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  21. "Physics Girl Dianna Cowern set to host Curiosity's upcoming original series 'Proof Of Concept.'". BusinessWire. 23 June 2022. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220623005786/en/Production-Is-Underway-on-the-Upcoming-Curiosity-Original-Series-Proof-Of-Concept. 
  22. "Proof of Concept Conceiving Consciousness". https://curiositystream.com/video/6902. 
  23. "Dianna Cowern (@thephysicsgirl) Official" (in en). https://www.tiktok.com/@thephysicsgirl. 
  24. "Dianna Cowern – Physics Girl – The Webby Awards" (in en-US). https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2018/film-video/video-channels-networks/web-personality-channels-networks/dianna-cowern-physics-girl/?/. 
  25. "Dianna Cowern". https://www.forbes.com/profile/dianna-cowern/. 
  26. "Instagram post dated May 20, 2022". 20 May 2022. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdyfyhDJD5t/. 
  27. Cowern, Dianna. "Instagram post dated Nov. 10 2022" (in en). https://www.instagram.com/p/CkrmrpOplFD/. "Since July, I've been struggling with what's called "Long COVID." [...] mine is very similar to Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)." 
  28. "Twitter Status dated March 3, 2023". 3 Mar 2023. https://twitter.com/thephysicsgirl/status/1631506800687349760. 
  29. Arenas, Jasmine (5 March 2023). "YouTuber "Physics Girl" dealing with long COVID as her sister helps from Denver". CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/youtuber-physics-girl-long-covid-sister-helps-from-denver/. 
  30. "An Update On Dianna's Health". Physics Girl. 6 March 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vydgkCCXbTA. 
  31. "Dianna shows us her PICC line". Physics Girl. 28 June 2023. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uKmmO1KE8ew. "Health update - Dianna now has a PICC line inserted into her arm. The PICC is used to help Dianna receive IV medications and fluids without having an adverse reaction to them. The PICC is threaded up the arm through a large blood vessel that extends into the chest." 
  32. "Dianna Health Update from SmarterEveryDay". 21 Dec 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbcjf-hrOAs. 

External links