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Asked by kezzily to Daniel, Derek, Ian, Phil, Upul on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: About. This question was also asked by wallace, lewismeywes, ryantracey, 08wildashj, seasider.
Question: Who is your fave scientist and why? who inspired you to become a scientist?
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Derek Mann answered on 16 Jun 2010:
Great questions. The scientist that inspired me to become a scientist was a chap called Max Perutz who I heard about when I was doing my A levels. Max was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1962 for his work that lead to solving the structure of hemoglobin which is the protein that carries oxygen around our body. Imagine my luck when in 1990 I joined the medical research council laboratory of molecular biology lab where Max was still working! I actually sat opposite him in the famous canteen of the lab and talked to him about my research project. So Max who is no longer alive would be one of my favourite scientists but the other would be someone who very few people have even heard of, a chap called Hal Weintraub who back in the 1980s carried out one of the coolest experiments I have come across. Hal used a single gene (MyoD) to alter the programme of cells and make them turn into muscle, which I still find incredible. Unfortunately Hal is also no longer alive, he died aged just 49 of cancer.
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Daniel Mietchen answered on 20 Jun 2010:
Most of science is teamwork, so singling out scientists is not always appropriate, nor easy. If forced to name names, I would probably go for Nobel Laureate Richard Ernst because he is not just one of the most prominent figures in the field of Magnetic Resonance but also very active in making scientists and the public aware of the need to change our attitudes towards nature if our society is to survive in the long term. Besides, he made a strong personal impression on me when we met during the Lindau Nobel meeting in 2005 (this year’s will start on Sunday 27) and discussed these sustainability issues, both for science and for society as a whole.
As for who inspired me to become a scientist, that is harder to pinpoint, because selecting my professional field was a long process, and many people were involved. Much of the inspiration came from three sources: Books on explorers and scientists, discussions with my parents, teachers and others, and the chance to get an early experience of lab work by taking university courses before even finishing school. I still do know, however, who inspired me to actually become a biophysicist and who predicted, when I was 15, that I would one day defend my PhD on some biophysical subject (which happened indeed, 15 years later): Ingolf Bernhardt.
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Ian Sillett answered on 21 Jun 2010:
Richard Feynmann is my favourite scientist. He was a physicist from America who was not only a nobel prize winner, but also one of the best communicators of science ever. He was famous for being able to explain really difficult ideas very simply and his physics lectures are still sold in huge numbers today.
Comments
kezzily commented on :
Wow.