When thinking of scientists, I picture people who are doctors that have an insurmountable amount of knowledge ahead of me. It’s hard to believe that scientists who make giant discoveries are normal people, but as I have gotten into more upper-division courses, I can see more of professors’ personalities. In lower division courses, the lectures were huge, and it was hard to feel a personal connection with professors at all unless you really went out of your way to go to their office hours or ask questions after class. As I moved through schooling, I could recognize some familiar qualities amongst scientists. Professors who teach a subject of science all have eccentric quirks about them, either they are really humble or there is the occasional pompous one. One characteristic that every scientist shares is passion towards their special interest.
Dr. Mullis was passionate enough to reflect on his techniques at work before he even had the chance to start relaxing at his weekend cabin. It must be exhausting to be that passionate about something where it is all you think about. I liked how when he talked about developing PCR that he had no idea what he was about to discover. He didn’t have a clue about what he was doing weren’t just working out technical kinks, but something much bigger. It makes me feel better that success stories like his can be sort of random and some people aren’t born set up with pre-determined success. It’s encouraging to see that science is attainable to everyone if they work hard at it and don’t get discouraged by failure. Two things I personally struggle with is thinking that I’ll never be as smart as my classmates and that failure is expected. I’m a perfectionist and want everything to turn out my way or get good grades on every project and test. Some of the best scientists emerged from struggle because it meant they learned more from failure, which I need to take into account myself.
