The colloquium for this afternoon is now going to be held in 300 Olin (Love Auditorium)
Natural Sciences And Mathematics Colloquium Series 2015-2016
Joseph Williams
Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology
Ohio State University
The Role of Persistence in Science: A Message to Young Scientists from a Silver-Backed Male
For all students that are considering Science, broadly defined, as a career path, it might be helpful to examine the careers of past great scientists to gain insights into how one can become as successful as possible. By way of introduction, we ask what science is, and how does a scientist think?
Next we look at the lives of a number of scientists that have made major impacts in our thinking. Galileo, an astronomer, changed the way we look at our planet in relation to the rest of the universe; Peter Mitchell, a cell biologist, made major advancements in our understanding of the mechanism used by mitochondria to manufacture ATP; Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologists, challenged the way we look at evolution by suggesting that cooperation, not competition, lead to the evolution of mitochondria within eukaryotic cells; Barry Marshall and J. Robin Warren, a pathologist and physician, respectively, discovered that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria; and finally Alfred Wegener, a geologist, developed the continental drift theory. In all of these stories we see a common theme, that when someone proposes an idea that challenges conventional wisdom, the scientific community typically opposes that person as much as possible. The message to young scientists is this, we can expect opposition to our ideas, if those ideas are contrary to commonly held ideas by others in the community. It is up to each individual to search within him or herself to decide the proper course for exploration in the realm of Science.