Louisiana Science Education Act As a senior at
Baton Rouge Magnet High School, in Louisiana, he launched a campaign to repeal the
Louisiana Science Education Act, which has been described by the international science community as a
creationism law. Kopplin ran his campaign through his RepealCreationism website. Kopplin joined with Louisiana State Senator
Karen Carter Peterson, a
Democrat from
New Orleans and chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party who sponsored two attempts to repeal the
Louisiana Science Education Act. Peterson vowed to keep sponsoring bills, “until we defeat this law.” With the help of
Nobel laureate chemist,
Harry Kroto, Kopplin gathered the support of 78 Nobel laureate scientists, who endorsed the repeal effort. The repeal is also supported by many other prominent scientists including
Kenneth Miller. Kopplin gathered the support of major science organizations behind the repeal including the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest science organization in the world with over 10 million members. He also gathered endorsements from the
Clergy Letter Project and the
New Orleans City Council. Kopplin spearheaded a campaign to prevent attempts by Louisiana legislators to reverse the board's decision.
School vouchers Kopplin has also played a role in the discussion over education reform in America. He has identified and exposed a number of the schools in Louisiana's school voucher program using creationist curricula or teaching creationism. Kopplin worked with MSNBC's
Melissa Harris-Perry Show to expose over 300 creationist voucher schools nationwide.
Second Giant Leap In 2013, Kopplin, along with Louisiana-based investigative journalist
Lamar White, launched Second Giant Leap for Humankind, a political action committee which advocates for $1 trillion in new funding to be appropriated to scientific research and development and also an end to denialist legislation. Kopplin wrote an open letter to U.S. President
Barack Obama asking him to support the Second Giant Leap campaign. Kopplin debated
Wall Street Journal editorial board member
Stephen Moore on the return on investment for funding science while on HBO's
Real Time with Bill Maher. After Kopplin pointed out that Moore was not a scientist, when Moore questioned National Science Foundation grants, the clip was picked up by Upworthy and went viral.
Michele Bachmann According to the
Huffington Post, Kopplin challenged Michele Bachmann to back up statements she made about Nobel laureate scientists supporting creationism. Kopplin made his challenge on the basis of the Nobel laureate scientists who supported his anti-creationism campaign. The New Orleans
Gambit followed up on this question while she was in New Orleans. ==Awards and recognition==