The Gift That Shaped My Career In Science

“The most beautiful gift was given to me by my father in the 1970s when, for a small amount of money, he rented a house with other families in a small, abandoned mining village located deep in the woods of the Metalliferous Hills in Tuscany, Italy. I was less than ten years old and, with the other children, I was able to run freely among tunnels, mineshafts and mineral dumps. I remember that we used to talk with passionate mineral prospectors who had pushed deep into the antimony mine, right up to the actual mineral veins. It is probable that my passion for minerals and rocks was born right then. Today, I am a geologist and I have been teaching science for 30 years.”

Gianni Bianciardi, geologist, Siena, Italy.

“My best science gift is undoubtedly my ex-husband. He encouraged me to start studying — because, as he said, he was successful in his academic studies and I was much smarter than him. He further enabled me by gradually taking over many of the household tasks. I started my studies when I was 33, took three years at community college to get a two-year degree (while I still had small children at home), three years to finish the bachelor’s, both with a perfect 4.0 average, then four years to do both my master’s and PhD. I received my PhD when I was 43, with computer scientist Herb Simon at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Without my ex-husband’s encouragement and help, this would never have happened.”

Anonymous.

“I remember my grandfather offering me an hour-long guided tour of an agricultural biochemical lab while I was eight or nine years old. He explained what they did there, showed me living objects through a microscope, chemical reactions in a glass tube, models of agricultural machines and so on. In the end, I worked for decades at the particle-physics lab CERN near Geneva, Switzerland.”

Hans F. Hoffmann, retired physicist, Geneva, Switzerland.

“I was given a tour of Rangitoto, an island in Auckland Harbour in New Zealand that is only 700 years old. Strangely, epiphytic plants that usually grow on other plants instead colonize the scoria: the aerated volcanic rocks that cover the surface of the island. Many of the plants there are otherwise rare and obscure, but have ethereal beauty, such as the kidney fern (Hymenophyllum nephrophyllum). I fell in love once with the flora of New Zealand. Hopefully many people will receive this gift!”

Michele Moore, plant and environmental scientist, Christchurch, New Zealand.

“The encouragement I received from Harold Good at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. He inspired me to become a plant pathologist. We were kindred spirits, being equally enthralled with both the academic and practical aspects of botany. He was my scientific father, guiding and prodding in the right direction. He saw the world as it was, and provided excellent advice. The gift gave me a university position and the experience to write textbooks. What a treasure he gave me.”

Ronald Jackson, retired botanist, Oakville, Canada.