Author Archives: Jennifer Rohn

About Jennifer Rohn

Scientist, novelist, rock chick

In which I head into the wind

Posted on April 23, 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Sometimes joy and sadness are hard to tease apart – there should be a word for the heavy lightness, or light heaviness, of springtime. This time of year always carries ambivalence: a scrum of flowers unfurl, scenting the air, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Careers, Gardening, Research, The profession of science | 1 Comment

In which I capture the present, but forget why

Posted on March 19, 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

I have always been a compulsive chronicler, ever since I was a small child starting off my first journal. I still write an entry nearly every day, taking a few months to fill in all the pages with my increasingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Art, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Music, Nostalgia, The ageing process, Work/life balance, Writing | 3 Comments

In which my lab is a garden

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s a grey afternoon, the light already fading. R. and I have just done a circuit of the back garden – ‘inspecting the troops’, we call it. The entire space is dishevelled, as it always is this time of year: … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Research, The profession of science, Work/life balance | Comments Off on In which my lab is a garden

In which I step over the edge

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

Another first of January, and I find myself in that fuzzy transition between old and new, between holiday and the resumption of real life. The Christmas tree and its associated trappings give me that look, seeming to realise they they … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

In which we fall

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

Fireworks crackle in the darkness: yesterday’s Bonfire Night stretching to fill the entire weekend. The torrential rains have given way to an almost full moon, glowing cold-silver in the eastern sky. November is always a positive month, with the cosiness … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Joshua, Research, Staring into the abyss, Students, Teaching, The profession of science, Work/life balance | 2 Comments

In which I cherish useless facts

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

I’ve just had my first letter to the editor published in the Times (of London, that is, not of New York). It wasn’t an urgent missive about science policy or politics or the state of the world or the Queen’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Nostalgia | 3 Comments

In which climate apocalypse feels inevitable

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

Here in England, we are braced for an historic heat wave. The Met Office has issued its first ever ‘Red Warning of Extreme Heat‘ for much of the UK, with temperatures set to reach a new record of 40 degrees … Continue reading →

Posted in Policy, Science fiction, Staring into the abyss | 2 Comments

In which ‘Lab Lit’ escapes its little box

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s been many moons since I published an article in Nature featuring my graph illustrating the apparent year-on-year increase in frequency of novels with scientists as central characters – or ‘lab lit‘. The trend had looked compelling, but coming from … Continue reading →

Posted in LabLit, Writing | 3 Comments

In which I see the light

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

I’m happy, and I don’t know why. Usually I dread this time of year, the period between demobbing the Christmas tree and the daffodil-studded benevolence of mid-March. It stretches on endlessly, the dreary coldness, the frosts interspersed with rain that … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic bliss, Gardening, Nostalgia, Work/life balance | Comments Off on In which I see the light

In which I imagine a dystopian future

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

Despite my dedication to promoting the Lab Lit genre, I’ve always been an avid science fiction fan too. I admire how a good dystopian tale can transport you into a terrifying alternative future so convincingly that when you emerge from … Continue reading →

Posted in LabLit, Science fiction, Writing | Comments Off on In which I imagine a dystopian future