• Question: who is your most inspirational scientist?

    Asked by mimi22 to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 24 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by pulfordcwh, sophifisher, catherine35.
    • Photo: Sarah Cook

      Sarah Cook answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Mine would be Rosalind Franklin – she did all the leg work for the discovery of the structure of the DNA helix but her contribution was not really acknowledged by Watson & Crick who are famous for the discovery.
      She later died in 1958 of ovarian cancer aged 37 – she was a great female scientist at a time when mostly men were prominent scientists.

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I have a lot of respect for Galileo, an astronomer and mathematician who proposed that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe, but that it actually revolved around the sun along with all the other planets. He knew he was right and told people his findings, even though it lead to him being put in prison for the rest of his life for heresy.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      So many. Maxwell and Benjamin Franklin are two that did the foundation work for the area I work in now. But I also have to admire people like Brian Cox who make complicated science easy to understand for the general public.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      I still haven’t answered this question because it’s a difficult one!! I think I’m going to have to say Edward Jenner http://www.jennermuseum.com/

      He was the first person to really use vaccines on a large scale and worked his whole life to convince other doctors and scientists to use vaccines. He developed the first smallpox vaccine and now we have eradicated smallpox from the world!! He had a lot of negative press at the time but carried on with his campaigning so we have a lot to thank him for!!

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