• Question: who is your inspiration

    Asked by anon-217575 to Savannah, Philippe, Lucy, Joanna, Harrison, Edoardo on 10 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-217590, anon-217594, anon-217178.
    • Photo: Philippe Gambron

      Philippe Gambron answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I don’t think I have been inspired by someone precise. We often have the image of great scientists musing about very deep questions in prestigious settings but the reality is very different. While there are lots of people I really admire, I don’t think I have followed anyone’s example. If someone has inspired me, it was probably my father. He was not a scientist at all. He was an immigrant from Italy who unfortunately did not have the chance to go to school. But he was clever and curious and he taught me the value of resourcefulness. He taught me that, with our own efforts and reasoning, we can do anything we like. It’s something I value in science. It means that, when facing a problem, we can just think about it and find a solution. We just have to have faith and keep scratching or heads till we find a solution.

    • Photo: Harrison Prosper

      Harrison Prosper answered on 10 Jun 2019: last edited 10 Jun 2019 5:01 pm

      Wow! That’s a tough one because I have had the good fortune to have encountered many inspiring people. I was inspired by Maria Fidecaro of CERN. In my twenties, when I was a postdoc at the Rutherford Appleton Lab, but stationed at the Institut Laue Langevin in Grenoble, France, Maria taught me the importance of recording my thoughts, work, and ideas in notebooks. She taught me the importance of being clear and precise, of being forceful when the occasion demanded it yet always being polite. Another inspiring person was the late John Bahcall, an astrophysicist, who taught me the importance of openness in science, and of sharing one’s ideas, data, results, and scientific tools with fellow scientists. John’s utter delight in what he did, working on theories of the sun, was infectious. I’m also inspired by the young scientists who always seem to have something new to teach me.

    • Photo: Savannah Clawson

      Savannah Clawson answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      This is a very tough question as I have been inspired by so many people in my life! In terms of scientists, there are so many great scientists that I look up to and aspire to be like. In a more personal sense, one of my best friends from school has always been a huge inspiration to me. She was diagnosed with cancer when we were just 15 but always remained so positive, even when she was at her most ill. Thankfully, she made a full recovery but she still inspires me today with her can-do attitude in life. She literally faced death and now lives her life to the full every day – a lesson I think we can all learn from.

    • Photo: Joanna Huang

      Joanna Huang answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      Sweet questions. I’d say my mom. Of course I also have a lot of scientists and teachers who have inspired me, but more than anyone else in my life, my mom has been the number one person I look up to 🙂 She’s super smart, and very very wise. I hope I can grow up to be like her!

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