Inspiration doesn’t play by any set rules. It can come from anywhere and strike when it’s least expected. The first inkling of a great idea can linger in the subconscious and drive people forward in a variety of ways.
This is a short study of inspiration from our SN 10: Scientists To Watch list. For the seventh consecutive year Science NewsIt is This article features 10 mid-career and early-career scientists driven by their curiosity and sense of wonder, and moved to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Each one is making an impact in their chosen field. Inspired by the beauty he saw in a video of a developing embryo during a middle school science class, Marcos Simões-Costa seeks to understand how cells differentiate during development. Robin Wordsworth, a planet scientist, decided to explore the possibility of life surviving in other parts in the universe because of the beautiful skies over Scotland. And for Jacky Austermann, a love of math and the outdoors led her to physics, then the inner Earth — and ultimately climate change.
Every year, we solicit SN10 nominations from Nobel laureates as well members of National Academy of Sciences and past SN10 scientists. This year’s names came from those notable folks, and then some. Nominations were opened to the public and scientists for the first-ever time. This increased the number of names on our list. It’s led to another impressive crew – many of them also set on inspiring others.
Tina Lasisi (biological anthropologist) is a host for a PBS Digital Studios series and a popular voice on TikTok. She studies the evolution of human variation. She hopes to inspire people of colour to ask the important questions they care about. “Research is me-search,” she says. Neutrino physicist Carlos Argüelles-Delgado is passionate about supporting physics students who don’t have role models who look like them. “It’s about not giving up, right?” Argüelles says. Environmental engineer Smruthi Karthikeyan pulled elementary school students into her coronavirus tracking efforts by letting them name the wastewater-collecting robots.
These scientist stories offer many ideas for inspiration. We hope that they inspire you. — Elizabeth Quill
Do you wish to nominate someone to the next SN 10 List? Please send your name, affiliation, and a few sentences about yourself and your work to sn10@sciencenews.org.
