• Question: In your opinion which scientists have had the greatest influence on your work or made it possible?

    Asked by meg456 to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 16 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by ronniesama, neems13, rachelbransom.
    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      Marie Curie – a pioneer in radioactivity, the first woman ever to receive a Nobel prize.

      Rosalind Franklin – the x-ray crystallographer that helped figure out the structure of DNA.

      Gertrude B Ellen – an american scientist that discovered many of the early anti-cancer drugs.

    • Photo: Murray Collins

      Murray Collins answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      Hi Meg, at this stage in my career the most influential people have been my university supervisors, particularly from my master’s degree. I still do work with them now, and one of them is helping me with my PhD.

      In terms of inspiration I really love the work of Jared Diamond, and E.O. WIlson! They are both biologists who write about the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world, an area that really captivates me. Rise and fall of the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond was one of my favourite books I read when I was younger.

      Much more broadly, in terms of biology it has to be Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace who developed evolutionary theory!

    • Photo: Diana Drennan

      Diana Drennan answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      That’s the great thing about science – we build on the discoveries of those that came before us !! I am indebted to: Linus Pauling, and Wolfgang Kabsch & Chris Sander were very important in developing our theories of hydrogen bonding and secondary structure of proteins. Lemont Kier, who first presented the idea of a pharmacophore (that the effects of a drug are due to the shape). Max Perutz, who used x-ray crystallography to solve the structure of myoglobin. And, of course, my adviser Peter C. Kahn who co-wrote with me the program I used extensively in my Ph.D. dissertation and turned me from a raw neophyte into a scientist.

    • Photo: Alan Winfield

      Alan Winfield answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Hi Meg – that’s a hard question to answer because there are so many.

      As an electronics engineer I depend on the pioneering work of people like Michael Faraday – who worked out the basic principles of electromagnetism – in effect inventing electric motors and dynamos. Faraday is for sure one of my scientific heroes. He was also a passionate communicator of science and gave one of the first Christmas Lectures in the Royal Institution – which are still going. I have been really lucky to lecture (twice) in the very same lecture theatre that Faraday lectured in, in the Royal Institution.

      Many other scientists have had a very great influence on my work. One was my PhD supervisor, Professor Rod Goodman; Rod was my mentor for many years. Another is a philosopher of science called Viv Pope, who I have known since I was 15 – Viv taught me how to think and reason scientifically. Quite a number of roboticists have had a great influence on my research work, they include Professor Owen Holland who did pioneering work in swarm robotics. I could go on – but I’ll stop there!

    • Photo: Caspar Addyman

      Caspar Addyman answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Charles Darwin.. By proving that man was just another type of animal he revolutionised our view of ourselves and made it possible to study what it means to be human scientifically. (rather than as a theologian or a philosopher.)

      Darwin also did one of the first studies in Baby science. He made careful observation of the first few years in the life of one of his son’s ‘Doddy’

      http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Darwin/infant.htm

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