In recent years, the development and application of virtual digital humans have been heeded in science popularization research. This paper mainly examines two kinds of virtual digital humans used in science popularization：virtual scientists and virtual digital humans engaged in science popularization in the media. The study believes that with the support of digital technology, the number of virtual digital scientists can be unlimited, their appearance is more novel, and they have intelligent scientific content production capacity, which can reduce the time pressure and communication pressure faced by human scientists engaged in science popularization, and improving the common problems in science popularization, such as the stereotypes of scientists. These advantages provide new ideas for science popularization under the background of digital transformation. However, we must pay more attention to the role of virtual digital scientists in guiding scientific value and restoring scientists' trust, and through multiple regulations to control the potential risks of those type of scientists.

virtual digital human  /  scientist  /  avatar  /  the image of the scientist