Q:If you could sit with one of your favorite scientists for one day to hang & chat, who would it be and what would you do?
I’ve done this a few times, actually. So I don’t have to guess.
We’ve been lucky enough in my graduate school program to host several Nobel Laureates on campus as part of a speaker series run by grad students focused on featuring the greatest scientific minds of our time. We also get a few stopping through for other lectures and I’ve swung a few lunch invites. We eat, we talk, we have some drinks later and the real fun comes out.
We’ve hosted Sydney Brenner, Richard Roberts, Mario Capecchi, Tom Cech, Andrew Fire, Jack Szostak … quite a few luminaries of biology (Mario is my favorite, just an inspiring story).
But nothing tops this guy:
James MF-ing Watson sat down with our grad school department a couple of years ago to talk about his book Avoid Boring People. I will not go into the details of what happened at the dinner/drinks event, but those of you with good memories might remember that in 2007 he retired after he offered the thought that Africans might be genetically inferior to other populations.
He visited us about 2 weeks before that comment came to light. All I will say about our dinner is that he is amazingly intelligent, and I could have written down 3-4 equally shocking comments of his after his third chardonnay of the night. Also, a young female tennis instructor was involved. So a personal hero was tarnished.
Scientists are interesting people who like to drink, even the big important ones.
21 Notes/ Hide
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allisonwilliamsmusic said:
When you claim one of your “favorite scientists” is one who thinks women and black people are genetically inferior, you might want to offer a little context or explanation, unless you want to be thought of as a racist bigot. Just saying.
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accol said:
That drinking comment is truefax.
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maddie-dear liked this
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ikenbot said:
That is amazing! you’re lucky D: wish I could do that
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ikenbot liked this
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fokingeesus said:
Neil Degrasse Tyson… and just let him talk!
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jtotheizzoe posted this
