Author Archives: Athene Donald

Alexander Borodin and the Education of Women

For those of a certain age who remember Chris Tarrant’s Who wants to be a millionaire?’, there was a moment when the contestant had reached the million dollar question which was: What was the composer Borodin’s profession? To me, that … Continue reading

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Mentors in Passing

Recently I was approached by a young woman after a talk, requesting we met so I could give her some advice. In fact, I suspect she didn’t actually want advice, so much as reassurance that what she had in mind … Continue reading

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Steamboat Ladies

The University of Cambridge has not had a very good week or two in the media. I’m not going to enter that fray given how much has already been written and I’m a long way away from the details of … Continue reading

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How did we manage before the Internet?

If you’ve read George Eliot’s Middlemarch (the Guardian’s recent choice as the best novel in the English language), you will recognize the problem Mr Casaubon faced in trying to write his magnum opus, relying on multiple books in a range … Continue reading

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Team Working and Loneliness

Some years ago, the Science Council created a list of ten different kinds of scientists, to showcase the fact that not every scientist does the same kind of work. Ranging from technician scientist to entrepreneur scientist via the more obvious … Continue reading

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