Question: who is your biggest isperation in the science world

Sue Carney answered on 17 Jun 2011:

Hi georglas. This is a great question! It’s made me think harder than any other question so far, because there are lots of scientists that inspire me. Here’s my short list:

When I was doing my forensic science training at the Forensic Science Service, I was taught by lots of fantastic people. One of them was a scientist called Graham Jackson who taught a course on the evaluation of forensic evidence called ‘Case Assessment and Interpretation.’ The course taught, what was to us as trainee forensic scientists, a brand new way of thinking. It wasn’t an easy concept to understand and we’d heard lots about how hard the course was from our colleagues who’d been on it before us. I found it an exhilarating course! It felt as if a light bulb had switched on in my head as I began to understand how it worked. For that reason, I’d cite Graham Jackson as a huge influence on my forensic career. Graham is a consultant now and also visiting professor in forensic science at the University of Abertay in Dundee.

As a DNA geek, I’ve always been fascinated by the work of Francis Crick & James Watson who discovered the structure of DNA. However, a scientist called Rosalind Franklin also did a huge amount of work in this area and helped Crick & Watson to make their discovery. Rosalind was a scientist who worked on X-ray crystallography, which is a technique that shines a beam of x-rays at a molecule to help find out what positions the atoms are in. Some of the images of DNA that she made using this technique helped to determine that the DNA molecule is a double helix and also gave important information about how far apart some of the atoms are. Sadly, Rosalind Franklin didn’t receive all the recognition she deserved for her contribution to the discovery of DNA’s structure and by the time Crick & Watson received their nobel prize, Rosalind had died of cancer and she was only 37. (That’s a year younger than I am.)

In terms of scientists on TV, I always really enjoy programmes presented by Professor Robert Winston. He pioneered some major advances in in vitro fertilization (IVF), better known as ‘test tube babies’, that have helped thousands of couples have children that might not otherwise have been able to. I love watching his programmes because you can tell how passionate he is about science when you watch them.

Craig has already mentioned Carl Sagan. His book, ‘Cosmos’ is awesome and has inspired many other scientists, including one of my favourites, Professor Brian Cox. I love watching his TV shows, although my boyfriend says he’s far too smug and good looking to be a scientist on TV! (I think he might just be a little bit jealous!)