Read this great NY Times piece on Marguerite Perey, a 20th century scientist who died from decades of exposure to the radioactive element she worked with. There was a part of the article that really resonated with me and I have pasted it below... Its application is much broader than just to those in the field of science: Perey’s story gets to this deep question about what’s the value in doing things? Is it the end result? Or is it just because it has inherent worth to pursue them? We should celebrate scientists not solely for their accomplishments but also for their courage and the tenacity required to discover anything at all. There are brave people out there working right now. They are brave not because they are killing themselves slowly or leaping from airplanes or catching rare tropical diseases, although scientists have done all those things. They are brave because of the intense emotional risks of trying to do something no one has done before by following your own lead. Radiation is a potent allegory for human life. Everything is always, inevitably falling apart; we are all in arrested decay. Our greatest achievements may become at best footnotes; few people remember us; we can’t know what will eventually come of our work. Full article here: nytimes/2014/12/07/magazine/my-great-great-aunt-discovered-francium-and-it-killed-her.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 08:04:40 +0000
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