• Question: Which scientist is your biggest inspiration?

    Asked by anon-236091 to Lucy, Greg, Emma, David, Anthony, Anna on 12 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Greg Heikel

      Greg Heikel answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      For me my favourite scientist is a guy called Norman Borlaug. He was a plant scientist from the 1960s who used selective breeding to develop crops that would be more resistant to drought, have a bigger yield and generally grow in areas where there wasn’t enough food. This led to something called the Green Revolution, where agricultural yields in a places like India, Mexico and Brazil grew massively. Because of this he won a Nobel peace prize and he’s credited with saving over a billion people from starvation

      I think he’s an amazing example of the power of relatively simple science, when combined and used in the right way, to change people’s lives for the better.

    • Photo: Lucy Kelly

      Lucy Kelly answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      Angelina Hesse. She was the wife of a scientist called Walther Hesse who worked in a lab in the 1880’s trying to find a way to isolate and grow bacteria. The lab was having trouble trying to find the right kind of ‘gel’ to add to a petri dish full of broth that the bacteria eat. The lab originally used gelatin, which is found in lots of sweets and jellies we eat today, but bacteria like to eat the gelatin and the broth wouldn’t gel properly. Angelina took inspiration from the kitchen and suggested that the lab used agar-agar, a gel which wouldn’t be eaten by bacteria and is much more stable than gelatin. With this suggestion, she helped to invent a method which allowed scientists to isolate bacteria and changed the field of microbiology forever.

      Angelina isn’t remembered by history books, and technically isn’t a scientist, but I find it really inspiring how we can help to solve scientific problems using solutions from our daily lives.

    • Photo: Emma Hayhurst

      Emma Hayhurst answered on 12 Mar 2020:

      wow I love the other’s answers to this question! For me, it’s anyone who is using science to improve the world. I’m also amazed by anyone who does great science when they are facing other hardships in their lives. I don’t think my favourite scientist would be any of the famous names. It would be the people who work quietly in the background day in day out, using science to make the world a better place

    • Photo: Anthony De Souza

      Anthony De Souza answered on 17 Mar 2020:

      I think my favourite scientist was my first manager in my first job, she had a great work ethic, really knew her microbiology and didn’t expect less than my best.

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