Daniel Leonard
Multimedia Science Journalist
Graphic Design
Video Projects
My friends and I decided to dub the acclaimed anime film The End of Evangelion into ancient Latin. One friend (who is studying Latin) translated the script, then we each recorded a particular voice part. I was in charge of editing everything together; it took a while to get the sound levels and timing right. (The film is the finale to the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, so expect to be confused if you haven't seen the show. We dubbed the first episode into Latin, too.)
I created this short film to celebrate three years together with my girlfriend (now fiancée), and as a final project for a course I took at Harvard on "Video as Medium." It explores what it's like to be in a long-distance relationship, and how technology can succeed—and fail—at bridging the divides between us. It's a personal topic, but it felt universal in 2020, when COVID led many of us to be physically separated from the people we care about.
Writing Projects
To complete my double major in the History of Science and Philosophy, I had to write a senior thesis that integrated the two fields. I chose to write about Wikipedia, focusing on how its editor community decides what is and is not notable enough to warrant inclusion on the site. I read about the history of Wikipedia and its policies, interviewed Wikipedia contributors and critics, and analyzed what I found through historical and philosophical lenses.
Towards the end of my time at Harvard, I became really interested in deep human history. So, when I took a screenwriting class in my final semester, I decided to write a short screenplay set in 4000 BCE. In it, a group of hunter-gatherers must decide whether or not to join a settled agricultural society.
Harvard's History of Science department offers a research travel grant to rising juniors. I used the grant to go to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where I examined the visitor center's exhibits and interviewed employees to analyze how NASA communicates its research and goals to the public. (My visit also aligned with the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing.) From my trip, I wrote three posts for the History of Science department's blog.
Every winter, my high school's drama society hosts a "night of scenes." Senior year, I wrote a scene which reflected back on my four years of high school. In it, my freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior selves discourse with one another, and offer some advice to eighth-grade me.
I did speech and debate throughout all four years of high school. My focus was on "original oratory," a speech event where you must deliver a ten-minute, memorized speech on any nonfiction subject of your choosing. I wrote six OOs in total. (It turns out that I was better at delivering unscripted speeches, though; I ranked first in Pennsylvania for impromptu speaking in 2017.)
Photography
© 2024 by Daniel Leonard