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Dianna Cowern

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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.[5] 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.

Dianna Cowern
Cowern during Vidcon 2018
Personal information
Born
Dianna Leilani Cowern

(1989-05-04) May 4, 1989 (age 35)[1]
Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (SB)[1][2]
OccupationScience communicator
Websitephysicsgirl.org Edit this at Wikidata
YouTube information
Also known asPhysics Girl
Physics Woman[3]
Channel
Years active2011–present
GenreScience education
Subscribers3.22 million[4]
Total views405 million[4]
NetworkPBS Digital Studios (2015–2020)
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: 23 April 2024

She developed long COVID after July 2022, which has limited her ability to create new YouTube videos.[6]

Early life and education

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Cowern was born May 4, 1989, and raised on Kauai island in Hawaii.[7][8] At that time, her father was a tree farmer and her mother ran a bed and breakfast.[9]

Through most of her early education Cowern was fascinated by mathematics.[9] While in high school, she was inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson and became interested in communicating science.[10] She studied physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science.[10] During her time at MIT she researched dark matter.[11]

Career

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After graduation, Cowern was a research fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian where she researched low-metallicity stars.[11] 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.[11]

She started her channel Physics Girl on October 21, 2011.[12] In an interview with Grant Sanderson, she said that some of the earlier videos were later deleted from the channel.[9]

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.[13]

 
Cowern at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, August 2019

In February 2017, she gave a talk at Google titled "Becoming YouTube's Physics Girl".[14] In 2018, she gave a keynote at CAST 2018 and at STEMtastic.[15][16][17]

In December 2017, she was featured in an interview in APS News.[18] Cowern has been featured in the Huffington Post, Slate, and Scientific American blogs.[19][20]

On September 25, 2020, Cowern announced on her YouTube channel that she would be ending her five-year partnership with PBS Studios.[21] Her personal YouTube channel however, has gone on, and by mid 2023 she has over 221 million views and over 2.74 million subscribers on the platform.[12] On TikTok, in March 2023, she has over 2.8 million likes and over 176,000 followers.[22]

On June 23, 2022, she announced she would be producing a science-based talk show for Curiosity Stream's Originals called Proof of Concept.[23] The show started streaming in August 2022.[24]

Awards

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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.[25] A year later she was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 in the category of education.[26]

Personal life

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A Physics Girl Patreon was established in November 2019.[27]

In May 2022, Cowern announced that she had recently married.[28]

In July 2022, Cowern reported that she had developed long COVID. She was hospitalized in March 2023, as her symptoms similar to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome continued to worsen, leaving her unable to move.[29][30][6][31][32] Her health had not improved as of August 2024.[33][34][35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d McDonald, Kim (June 5, 2014). "UC San Diego's 'Physics Girl' Wins National Competition".
  2. ^ Lanning, Carly (March 18, 2015). "YouTube's Physics Girl is science-loving superhero". The Daily Dot.
  3. ^ From her legacy YouTube username: "Physics Girl - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "About Physics Girl". YouTube.
  5. ^ "Physics Girl". PBS Digital Studios. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Arenas, Jasmine (March 5, 2023). "YouTuber "Physics Girl" dealing with long COVID as her sister helps from Denver". CBS News. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  7. ^ "Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl) | VidCon US". Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  8. ^ The Unusual Formation of the Hawaiian Islands, retrieved March 4, 2023
  9. ^ a b c "Dianna Cowern: Dead or Alive", 3b1b Podcast, vol. 4, August 31, 2021, retrieved March 4, 2023
  10. ^ a b "Meet Physics Girl, the YouTuber who makes a living explaining science". Science | AAAS. March 16, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Education, P. B. S. (October 26, 2019). "Why Being Held Back Was the Push Forward I Needed". PBS Education.
  12. ^ a b "Physics Girl - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  13. ^ "Dianna Cowern – U.S. News STEM Solutions". U.S. News STEM Solutions. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  14. ^ Cowern, Dianna (February 7, 2017), Dianna Cowern: "Becoming YouTube's 'Physics Girl'" | Talks at Google, Talks at Google, retrieved February 6, 2018{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ "News: CAST 2018 Keynote Speaker". www.statweb.org. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  16. ^ "Featured Speakers". s6.goeshow.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  17. ^ "'Physics Girl' Dianna Cowern to speak at Ventura County STEM network's STEMtastic! celebration - News Releases - CSU Channel Islands". www.csuci.edu. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  18. ^ Gaal, Rachel (December 2017). "YouTube's Physics Girl". APS News. 26 (11): 2, 7. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  19. ^ "Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl)". Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  20. ^ PBS Digital Studios (November 18, 2016), Searching for Dark Matter | Dianna Cowern | PBSDS Nerd Night 2016, retrieved February 6, 2018
  21. ^ Cowern, Dianna (September 25, 2020). Why it's impossible to make a red bubble… or IS it?!. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  22. ^ "Dianna Cowern (@thephysicsgirl) Official". TikTok. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  23. ^ "Physics Girl Dianna Cowern set to host Curiosity's upcoming original series 'Proof Of Concept.'". BusinessWire. June 23, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  24. ^ "Proof of Concept Conceiving Consciousness". Curiosity Stream. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  25. ^ "Dianna Cowern – Physics Girl – The Webby Awards". Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  26. ^ "Dianna Cowern". Forbes.
  27. ^ "CERN Selfie Mode". Patreon. November 14, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  28. ^ "Instagram post dated May 20, 2022". Instagram. May 20, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  29. ^ Cowern, Dianna. "Instagram post dated Nov. 10 2022". Instagram. Retrieved March 4, 2023. Since July, I've been struggling with what's called "Long COVID." [...] mine is very similar to Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
  30. ^ "Twitter Status dated March 3, 2023". Twitter. March 3, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  31. ^ "An Update On Dianna's Health". Physics Girl. March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via YouTube.
  32. ^ "Dianna shows us her PICC line". Physics Girl. June 28, 2023. Retrieved July 9, 2023 – via YouTube. 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.
  33. ^ "Instagram post dated April 3, 2024". Instagram. April 3, 2024. Retrieved May 8, 2024.[better source needed]
  34. ^ "Dianna Health Update from SmarterEveryDay". YouTube. December 21, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.[better source needed]
  35. ^ "Detailed Health Update from Kyle - December 2023". Patreon. December 21, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2024.[better source needed]
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