Evelyn Fox Keller (1936–2023)

Quotes I love---

"The word 'understanding' and the particular meaning she attributed to it, is the cornerstone of Barbara McClintock's entire approach to science. For her, the smallest details provided the keys to the larger whole. It was her conviction that the closer her focus, the greater her attention to individual detail, to the unique characteristics of a single plant, of a single kernel, of a single chromosome, the more she could learn about the general principles by which the maize plant as a whole was organized, the better her 'feeling for the organism.'" (101)

"The crucial point of this story, to her, is the state of mind required in making such judgments. 'It is done with complete confidence, complete understanding. I understood every plant. Without being able to know what I was integrating, I understood the phenotype.' What does understanding mean here? 'It means that I was using a computer that was working very rapidly and very perfectly. I couldn't train anyone to do that."'" (102-103)

"Her virtuosity resided in her capacity to observe, and to process and interpret what she observed. As she grew older, it became less and less possible to delegate any part of her work; she was developing skills that she could hardly identify herself, much less impart to others. /The nature of insight in science, as elsewhere, is notoriously elusive. And almost all great scientists--those who learn to cultivate insight--learn also to respect its mysterious workings. It is here that their rationality finds its own limits. In defying rational explanation, the process of creative insight inspires awe in those who experience it. They come to know, trust, and value it." (103)… (plus d'informations)

P. Kitcher y E. F. Keller son dos de los científicos más renombrados de nuestro tiempo, y podrían haber escrito un libro «convencional» sobre cambio climático, lleno de cifras, argumentos y buenas intenciones. Pero se dieron cuenta de que, a pesar de que es uno de los temas más urgentes, la mayoría nos sentimos incapaces de comprender el alcance de la situación. Los contradictorios enunciados científicos se nos escapan y los voceríos políticos nos ofrecen menos confianza. Consecuencia: no sabemos hablar de cambio climático, a pesar de el planeta dependa de esas conversaciones y de las acciones derivadas de ellas. Entonces decidieron presentar la realidad del calentamiento global a través de seis «diálogos socráticos» en los que distintos personajes se enfrentan a este gran reto.… (plus d'informations)

Barbara McClintock was a brilliant female scientist, unwilling to settle for a “woman’s job” teaching when she was clearly cut out for research. Her intelligence and insight eventually put her discoveries so far ahead of the rest of her field that it took decades for her to receive the recognition she deserved. In this biography, we learn about both her struggles as a women in science and the details of her Nobel prize winning research.

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