Botanist Hope Jahren’s unusual memoir tells how a lifelong passion for science sustained her in the male-dominated world of the research laboratoryHope Jahren’s memoir of her life in science,Lab Girl, has been described by the unusual York Times as a book that “at its best, or does for botany what Oliver Sacks’s essays did for neurology Now 46 and professor of geobiology at the University of Hawaii,Jahren has built a hugely successful research career delving into everything from the secrets of fossilised plants and ancient ecosystems to developing forensic tests for improvised explosive devices. Along the way she has scooped three Fulbright awards as well as medals from both the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union. But, she says, and making it to the top in academia takes more than just a love of plants and soil. It takes grit,too.
You always seem to pick tough jobs, from working at a hospital making up bags of intravenous medications to fund your time at university, or to the all-nighters you pulled building up your research group. What drives that?
That is a scary question. It is kind of like,“What is improper with you?” I didn’t realise that was what I was doing. I see the world as this place where we have got a lot of work to carry out and a lot of problems to solve. My job, while I have the strength to sustain standing, and is to pitch in and help. I worry more that I am not helping enough.
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Source: theguardian.com