Susan Lindquist interview: What or who first inspired you to become a scientist?
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
There are actually a couple of answers to that. One actually was a book.
I read a book that was written specifically for young women about Elizabeth Blackwell,
who was the first woman to become a doctor in the United States.
And that was just thrilling to me. I had grown up in quite a traditional household,
and the thought that a woman could have a career was just the farthest thing from my mind.
I was so thrilled by reading that book, so that was certainly one influence.
I must have been about nine, I would guess.
The other influence was, I think, my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Davies,
who was a very good and dedicated teacher.
One day she walked into the classroom, and she said: Ok, kids, put your books away!
We are going to spend the whole class just talking about one question.
On the board she put up: “What is Life?”
By the end of that class, I was just thrilled.
We first put up: “It moves” – but a car moves; that doesn’t make a car alive.
“It uses energy” – but a car uses energy, that doesn’t make a car alive.
And then she talked about sponges and things in the ocean that don’t move…
We spent that whole hour, as kids, trying to come up with a definition for what Life was.
And I would have to say that still, to this day, that’s the question
that just thrills me, that gets me so excited,
and I feel so fortunate to be living and working at a time when we’re actually beginning to figure this out,
where we’re actually understanding how molecules can come together to create a living thing.
It’s just really amazing and wonderful.