• Question: Who is your favourite scientist and why?

    Asked by Luna-chan to Craig, Devon, Marta, Natalie, Nicholas on 10 Mar 2017. This question was also asked by Aqdus.
    • Photo: Marta Varela

      Marta Varela answered on 10 Mar 2017:

      It’s a very long list… Lots of people are there, for their contributions or the kind of challenges they had to overcome to make them.

      I recently came across this scientist called Vera Rubin and found her very inspirational. Here is her 1-page obituary, for you to have a look if you are interested: http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21713814-american-astronomer-who-established-existence-dark-matter-was-88-obituary-vera-rubin.

    • Photo: Natalie Doig

      Natalie Doig answered on 10 Mar 2017:

      That is really hard to chose, there are so many inspirational scientists. One of my favourites is Sir Charles Sherrington. He worked at Oxford University and made many really important discoveries about the nervous system. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1932/sherrington-facts.html
      He also was the first to use the word ‘synapse’ which is the name for how neurons are connected to each other in the brain.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapse

    • Photo: Nicholas Younger

      Nicholas Younger answered on 10 Mar 2017:

      One of my favorite scientists is Oliver Sacks, who died only a few years ago. He was a brilliant neuroscientist and neurologists who lead a very interesting personal life.

      He published a variety of general pop science books discussing his patients and their unusual and unique neurological problems. A really interesting read.

    • Photo: Craig O'Hare

      Craig O'Hare answered on 10 Mar 2017:

      I have a lot of time for Dr Aoife McLysaght.

      She was my lecturer in evolutionary genetics in my second year of uni but I actually first saw her speak at Electric Picnic; a music festival back at home in Ireland. She was the first person I actually encountered doing science communication and public engagement and got me into the idea of engaging everyone with science. This lead to me working in a science museum for a summer. I probably wouldn’t even be in this competition if it wasn’t for her!

      Some of her talks are on youtube. I really recommend checking them out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO3pIMjKYck

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