Author Archives: Athene Donald

Bust the Heroic Myth in Science

‘Paul Nurse believes in heroes of science’ was a line in my Twitter feed one morning recently ‘and so do I’ continued Roger Highfield, who gave the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Prize Lecture  at the Royal Society on this very topic last year. … Continue reading

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Science, Poetry and Gender

Not so long ago I gave a talk in Oxford about why I believe it is important for the public not to feel so distanced from science and maths that they are comfortable saying ‘I never could do maths at … Continue reading

Posted in Communicating Science | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Seasonal Lists (and the REF)

The end of the year is, by custom, the time for lists. Lists of best (or worst) photos, opening book sentences, or celebrity fashion faux pas; lists of those who died or those who made their film/book/TV/sporting debuts. Think of … Continue reading

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Party Time

Since it’s the festive season, at least in my part of the world, it seems appropriate to post about parties, but what follows is far from confined to Christmas, or the associated office party. It could just as well be … Continue reading

Posted in Life in Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

You Don’t Know the Rules? You Are Not Alone!

Are you one of those people who think there must be a ‘right’ way of doing every task, or are you prepared to muddle through making it up as you go along? A reader of my recent post on Being … Continue reading

Posted in Science Culture | Tagged , , | 4 Comments