There was a discussion at some point recently about role models in science. Let’s see if I can find it. Ah, here we are.
In that thread, I had mentioned a few of mine that sprang to mind. But I had completely taken for granted, though not entirely forgotten naturally, my high school biology teacher, Ms. Sullivan, and my college physics professor, Ms. Fleming.
Phyllis Fleming teaching in 1968. I wasn’t quite born yet.
Phyllis Fleming died recently and her obituary has appeared in the Boston Globe and the New York Times.
Professor Fleming was anything but elite and high-powered. She has, however, influenced the thousands of young women who took her courses, of which the material is still available on web pages she set up a few years ago, appropriately entitled Take The Fear Out of Physics. Like Professor Fleming herself, the site is modest and not very flashy, but full of down-to-earth knowledge.
Above all, Ms. Fleming was very funny as well as being rational and highly tolerant of the diversity in her student body. She was a wonderful woman and a skilled teacher, and I am the richer for having known her.
That is lovely! THanks Heather for putting the link up. I was always ok with physics until the AC/DC concept… then it got a bit blurry with the whole “electrons changing direction every so often” (and how do they get out of the wall??) but at least I had to try and think more abstract :)
My swedish/home room teacher between 7 and 9th grade was Mrs Schattauer. Absolutley terrifying if you got on her wrong side, but absolutely great otherwise. Sharp as a whip. And then there was my high school teacher – Mrs Kerstin Wallin – in math and physics. A great woman. Obviously she got me not to fear physics after that initial contact…. She meant a lot to me as well.
Hi Heather, Thanks for this wonderful post. Role models in science are essential, and they play a key part in the development of any scientist, through out his or her education, from elementary to high school to college to graduate school. I recently made a documentary film entitled Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist about a lab in Columbia University’s Department of Biochemistry. A key character in the film was the director of the lab – Professor Lawrence Shapiro. To say that the guidance, advice and support he gave his PhD students was valuable is an understatement. But featured prominently in the film is the extent to which his students saw him as a role model and stated that their idea of being a good scientist was being Larry Shapiro. While we all too often focus on lab work, theoretical education and experiment results, the human dimension of science and the influence a single individual can have on generations of scientist is equally important. For more information about the film, go to www.naturallyobsessed.com
Great post, Heather. I’ve been meaning to write a series on my favourite teachers for ages; this might just spur me into action.
I’m definitely sensitive to the human dimension of conducting science. Perhaps too much so. Some scientists are good models to emulate precisely because they are generous in their egoism – what’s good for them can also be good for you.
I definitely like hearing about other people’s role models, because it helps understand what they valued in those people, and hence what they themselves would like to be. We also have some inverse role models, but perhaps we shouldn’t go there. It’s so easy to caricature, anyhow.
Really interesting!… and so encouraging!!
@Richard: the human dimension of science and the influence a single individual can have on generations of scientist is equally important
Absolutely!
Thanks Heather! ;-)
Oddly, I didn’t have any female role models for science, but all of my male teachers and profs were very inspiring. Maybe it’s my ego, but I never had any problems envisaging myself as a scientist, even though I didn’t see many around.