Zoos and entering the world of science
“Curious Minds: How a child becomes a scientist” edited by John Brockman. http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Minds-Child-Becomes-Scientist/dp/0375422919
I read this fascinating book a couple of years ago, and was struck that two of the world’s leading thinkers quote the zoo ( …amongst other sources, of course) as their original inspiration to become involved in science:
1. Murray Gell-Man, Nobel Prize winning physicist,author of ‘The Quark and the Jaguar, Adventures in the Simple and the Complex’, (http://www.amazon.com/Quark-Jaguar-Adventures-Simple-Complex) ?
2. Robert Sapolsky, one of the world’s leading primatologists and author of ‘A Primate’s Memoir’ (http://www.amazon.com/Primates-Memoir-Robert-M-Sapolsky )
I wonder how many other major thinkers ( in the sciences and perhaps elsewhere)have been catapulted into the world of intellectual exploration by the zoo experience? I wonder as well whether our zoos could do more (and more explicitly) to open up pathways for young people to enter science, and indeed endeavour and enteprise in every sense?
One Response to “Zoos and entering the world of science”
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initial email from Robert Sapolsky
Hi John,
Thanks for sending this. Fine to reference me, and I look forward to
reading this. I’m just back from a research season in Kenya, so I antiipate being overwhelmed and a zombie for some time to come, so probably not until after I start functioning.
All the best,
Robert