Shaking head with disbelief
I wanted to cry today.
So I clicked on mass spec goddess's link from her comment, to see this wonderful doctor who is saving lives in California.
(Note: Ahem! cough, cough! People applying to or interested in or that may potentially end up in Stanford Medical School, please note: Dr. Sanjeev Dutta has a webpage here and is a very nice guy. I mean, he saved this kid's life, how can he not be?)
But I digress,
"Holy Shit! Joshua Lederberg is dead! That's sad."
Baymate goes: "Who is that?"
That's when I wanted to cry. I mean who is he, right? Only the guy who showed that bacteria mate and exchange genetic information. Nobel Laureate? 1950 something?
But its too much to expect her to know even that. I have a feeling if I asked her about the Hershey and Chase experiment, she wouldn't have a clue. So I looked for something simple that she could identify with. I replied "You know how you work with yeast and you plate your cells out, then you replica plate onto different media. Yep, he's the guy who came up with that idea. Replica plating. That's him. He died."
"Oh, OK." and she shrugged. I shook my head with disbelief.
I'm depressed. Its not like I know every scientist who's ever won a prize or so on. But honestly, if you work in a lab where the daily bread is centered around DNA, shouldn't you at least know where it all started? Where it all came from? And who gave us the ideas that got us this far? Its so easy to belittle these achievements in retrospect, but I am always humbled by the old school researchers who established the simple concepts that have illuminated the path to scientific discoveries today.
The people I work with fail to impress or inspire me, more and more.
I know you've got your Heath Ledgers and all, but this is so much more tragic to me. In the last six months, we've lost Arthur Kornberg, Seymour Benzer and now Lederberg. The books I read in college are filling up with ghosts.
R.I.P. Joshua Lederberg. 1925 - 2008.
So I clicked on mass spec goddess's link from her comment, to see this wonderful doctor who is saving lives in California.
(Note: Ahem! cough, cough! People applying to or interested in or that may potentially end up in Stanford Medical School, please note: Dr. Sanjeev Dutta has a webpage here and is a very nice guy. I mean, he saved this kid's life, how can he not be?)
But I digress,
I was on the Stanford webpage, and I saw a little news write up below that said:
Nobel Prize - winning geneticist Joshua Lederberg dies at 82.
to which I naturally said,Nobel Prize - winning geneticist Joshua Lederberg dies at 82.
"Holy Shit! Joshua Lederberg is dead! That's sad."
Baymate goes: "Who is that?"
That's when I wanted to cry. I mean who is he, right? Only the guy who showed that bacteria mate and exchange genetic information. Nobel Laureate? 1950 something?
But its too much to expect her to know even that. I have a feeling if I asked her about the Hershey and Chase experiment, she wouldn't have a clue. So I looked for something simple that she could identify with. I replied "You know how you work with yeast and you plate your cells out, then you replica plate onto different media. Yep, he's the guy who came up with that idea. Replica plating. That's him. He died."
"Oh, OK." and she shrugged. I shook my head with disbelief.
I'm depressed. Its not like I know every scientist who's ever won a prize or so on. But honestly, if you work in a lab where the daily bread is centered around DNA, shouldn't you at least know where it all started? Where it all came from? And who gave us the ideas that got us this far? Its so easy to belittle these achievements in retrospect, but I am always humbled by the old school researchers who established the simple concepts that have illuminated the path to scientific discoveries today.
The people I work with fail to impress or inspire me, more and more.
I know you've got your Heath Ledgers and all, but this is so much more tragic to me. In the last six months, we've lost Arthur Kornberg, Seymour Benzer and now Lederberg. The books I read in college are filling up with ghosts.
R.I.P. Joshua Lederberg. 1925 - 2008.
posted by khal at 5:11 am
12 Comments:
He still looked good for 82 years!
Yeah I got the press release from RU a few days ago. It's sad, but he had a full rich life and he contributed much. Now THERE's somebody who's autograph was worth getting! ahem...
He won his Nobel at 33.
What the hell is going on with science these days? We don't seem to start our own labs till we're 35 or so.
Or is it just CSH alumni?
Another thought, maybe I was too harsh on her. I remember, I said "Oh my God, Heath Ledger is dead!!!" her response was pretty much "Who is that?"
Maybe she is just obtuse about everything?
well, having attended some lab meetings...
You should have said, "OMG, the cute blond guy in Brokeback Mountain died." It is sad, I had no idea what his name was before he died. Maybe it's a taiwanese thing.
K, the average age for first-time R01 grantees these days is 43. It's not just CSHL, it's USA. Good thing you are running away from this.
BTW, I had to explain to three people today who typhoid Mary was. Two are med-school wanna-bes and the other is a 29 yr old grad student. But then they are all well acquainted with pop culture. Maybe you just have high standards for people.
@May: So I found out she's terribly homophobic. I referred to one of our (male) undergrads as cute once and she totally freaked out. That was a funny episode. So if I say "cute blond guy in Brokeback Mountain", that's it. Her doubts about me are going to be confirmed.
I told her I check her out too (so what? its true), but I wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what I thought of her (physically). That conversation ended there.
I don't think its a Taiwanese thing. You're way smarter. Or perhaps its because you hung out with me and Joe so much, eh? (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha).
@May (comment 2): I'm depressed and have decided to quit science. I have already been told by pretty much everyone that my scientific career is going to be over once I go to England, and so I have decided to go back to plan B of making/directing sci-fi porn. What do you think? Would you buy? Anyone else? I'll do pretty much everything except animals.
I can already tell from this new pretty young grad student in the building that I may have a clientele. Apparently, she likes my hair (on the head and the hands).
Sometimes she likes to stroke it when I'm just sitting at the lunch table reading/caffeinating. You know what a sucker I am for attention, I'll take whatever I get, so I let her. Is that wrong?
Yes, you may now throw up.
And I love you too.
Oh, and I bet you she doesn't know who Typhoid Mary is. Watch this space. Will test and report.
oh. I quit science already many times.
The last time I was out of it for more than a year.
Right after my PhD.
Not very good for the career prospects though. You mentioned something about not having your own lab at 35. I'm 38 and still postdoc'ing.
Science will suck you in again though.
1. Your bay-mate spend a lot of time with you. I spent a lot of time with you and Joe. So I wonder who is the source of wisdom.
2. 95% of the depressing people around you are making papers that no one will ever read and they call it a career.
3. I will buy your sci-fi porn. But please don't make it with green and purple paint. That one was awful.
4. We want hair-stroking photos/videos.
@三角形
1. Ouch. Touche. :)
2. True, true.
3. No no, no paint. I believe in glorious unperturbed nudity.
4. Perv. Will try, but not promising. These have (so far) been spontaneous sessions.
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