Astronomum

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

It’s 1995 in North Yorkshire, and an 18 year-old mega-geek is applying to university. Her parents – languages teachers both – are supplying a steady stream of advice, food, and general support. Oh, and lots of their teacher friends to interrogate their elder daughter about her higher education plans, and to repeat the same conversation ad nauseum in a seemingly never-ending cycle of predictability.
Friend of Parents: “So what do you want to study?”
Mega-geek: “Genetics.”
FOP: “Really??!! With your parents I thought you’d be studying French, or German, or Spanish.”
MG: “No, I’m doing biology, chemistry and maths A levels, and I want to do genetics at uni.”
FOP: “Ha ha ha ha ha! That’s so funny! Because your parents are linguists! Can you explain the genetics of that?!”
MG: “Heh. Good one.”
Repeat approximately once a month until graduation four years later. “I’m doing a PhD in molecular cell biology” did not elicit the same levels of hilarity, for some reason.
——————
I am the first and only scientist in my family. My younger sister went on to study French and Italian, and when we were all together, the three of them would sometimes converse in French (their one common foreign language) without even realising they were doing it. My level of French extends to ordering food and finding hotels, so this caused the occasional problem for me.
Having said that, it was my parents (mostly my Mum) who first exposed me to biology, in the form of battered but beloved copies of James Herriot’s books, museum visits, and a regular diet of David Attenborough documentaries. Those influences proved to be the start of a slippery slope for me, but no-one else chose to delve much further into the wonders of science. (Unless they were accidentally talking about science in French and wondering why I wasn’t joining in).
However, an interesting thing happened once my sister and I moved out for good and my Mum had more time to follow her own interests. Her latent interest in space evolved from a working mother’s habit of having Star Trek on in the background while calmly and efficiently multitasking away, to a more serious study of space exploration and astronomy. After she went part-time at work, she started taking evening classes, reading astronomy books, and even bought a telescope. For the first time, we were able to discuss a popular science book that we’d both read (E=mc 2 – highly recommended. I bought it for her as I knew she’d love the last section, on the formation of stars and planets).
So, for my Mum’s 60th birthday yesterday, I bought her a super-cool mega-geek gizmo called the Sky Scout:

Point the Sky Scout personal planetarium at a heavenly body and it will identify any of 7,500 stars in all 88 constellations using its in-built celestial database and GPS technology.
Sky Scout will recommend the twenty best celestial objects to spot on any given day, time and location, and help you locate thousands of stars, with comprehensive text and audio descriptions for the most popular objects.
(Text and image from the Science Museum’s website)
I think it’s important to encourage and nourish a parent’s interests and natural curiosity.
She loved it. She’s going to bring it over when they visit next summer, so we can stargaze together.
I’m 32 years old, and I finally have another scientist in my family.

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to Astronomum

  1. steffi suhr says:
    July 17, 2009 at 6:33 am

    Ooh, fantastic gadget!!
    I’m 32 years old, and I finally have another scientist in my family.
    No chance of that in my family. I remember very similar conversations – apparently, everyone around me had pretty much decided I was going to be a writer/journalist…

  2. Mike Fowler says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:02 am

    Nice post, Cath! If you reward their curiosity enough, they’ll become much more easy to train.
    If I think about it laterally enough, I’m surrounded by scientists in my family – my Mum was, and my wee sister is, a nurse – as was my Grandmother. My Dad was a merchant sailor (engineer), and my wee brother is some sort of biologist. My big brother, strangely, is the black sheep of the family. An accountant {shudder}.
    And the moral of this story? The boss is I married a translator, to get away from work for a bit.

  3. Henry Gee says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:53 am

    Lovely story (and gadget!)
    Both my parents are (or were) lawyers. Among the first words I learned was ‘affidavit’. I’m still not sure what it means. Sometimes, when my Dad was cross with someone, I’d ask (assumes identity of precocious 5-year-old) ‘Dad, are you going to Issue a Summons?’

  4. Jennifer Rohn says:
    July 17, 2009 at 9:24 am

    Wow…that gadget is the Shazam) of the universe: I want one!
    I was raised by artists. They still don’t know what happened to me.

  5. Mike Fowler says:
    July 17, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Jenny, I guess you made your career choice as a rebellious teenager.

  6. Jennifer Rohn says:
    July 17, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Nah, I was a pretty tame specimen. Besides, I’ve wanted to be a scientist for as long as I can remember.

  7. steffi suhr says:
    July 17, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Do you think someone will make that kind of thing for plants/animals/other stuff one day? Would come in handy in many cases. And I’ve always hated dichotmous keys – I usually end up somewhere completely ridiculous (i.e. a plant/animal that looks nothing like what I have in front of me).
    (Hmm. Maybe I should have been a journalist instead?…)

  8. Samantha Alsbury says:
    July 17, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    I wonder how many other biologists were influenced by David Attenborough.
    It was a science project at school when I was 10 that convinced me science was the one thing in the world most worth doing and I’ve never looked back. I hope the guy from the national rivers authority who came to visit to help us with the project realizes that he changed the life of at least one kid in the room.
    Once the spark was lit David Attenborough was the fuel that kept me going, along with regular encouragement from my mum, until I could drop all the boring subjects and get down to some real science. He made it all seem so accessible…
    very cool gadget btw

  9. Robert Pinsonneault says:
    July 17, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    I too may have been confused with some other baby in the delivery room, since both of my parents (a lawyer and an English teacher) are decidely unsciencey. Another component that raises eyebrows and suspicions is my comparative pacifism when viewed alongside my brothers who were/are both involved in the military in some capacity. They both make their living in finance now (echos Mike’s shudder).
    @Henry- I learned at a very early age the concept of attorney privilege. In fact, to this day, I still filter what people and say and do in terms of what should or can be public record. Paranoia. Scarred for life.
    Also, I was made to use the dictionary every time my father said some lawerly (or 10 dollar) word in my general direction that elicited even the slightest look of confusion.

  10. Cath Ennis says:
    July 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    Steffi, well, you did kinda end up being a writer!
    That was another recurring conversation I used to have. My Mum would often say that I was a rarity because even though I’d turned out to be a scientist, I was also (gasp) well-read and literate! I kept replying that that wasn’t a rarity at all, but I don’t think it sunk in until the 12th repetition.
    Mike, I forgot to mention my extended family. Both grandparents on my Mum’s side were teachers too, and my Aunt and Uncle taught Spanish and English, respectively. One of my female cousins did journalism and French at Uni, the other didn’t go but is fluent in German. My male cousins are both in IT, which is getting a little closer at least!
    Henry, thanks! I bet you won most of your arguments in primary school 😉
    Jenny, Star Shazam – that’s brilliant! Nice one!
    Steffi, that would be pretty cool. I bet there’ll be an iPhone app at some point! This app is just a taster of what the new hardware can do (I’m holding off until the next upgrade).
    Samantha, I bet there are a lot of us! In my case it was a fantastic biology teacher who turned me on to genetics when I was 14, but the seeds were sown long before that day.
    Robert, I have a good friend (we were flatmates at uni) who I swear is my parents’ real child, and vice versa. Her Dad’s a doctor, her Mum’s a midwife, and her siblings are physiotherapists and engineers. She studied French and German. We have the same first and middle names, and almost identical hair.

  11. Robert Pinsonneault says:
    July 17, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Cath – Dear God, I just heard the theme song from the Twilight Zone! I should have this auditory hallucination thing checked out I suppose…

  12. steffi suhr says:
    July 18, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Cath, that ‘nearest tube’ app looks cool – but that’s ‘easy’: all you need is your position via GPS and the map info. I suspect for identification of plants/animals, you’d need something a lot more sophisticated. Something even closer to a tricorder…

  13. Caryn Shechtman says:
    July 19, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    Great post Cath. My dad is a vet, so that is the closest I get to discussing science with anyone in my family. My brother still can’t get over that I regularly use and write the word “elucidate”… still have a long way to go with him.

  14. Cath Ennis says:
    July 20, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    Robert, that’s perfectly normal, isn’t it?
    Steffi, but it’s just the first of its kind… I believe the iPhone will surpass the capabilities of the tricorder any week now. (Although actually it’s more likely to be Google that leads the way. I love miPhone, but I’m keeping a close eye on the Android for future reference).
    Caryn, that’s cool though! I really wanted to be a vet from the age of about 7 – 14, when I discovered genetics instead. If I’d had a vet in the family, I might never have turned away from that path! I occasionally still wonder “what would have happened if…” (mostly “I probably wouldn’t have ever moved to Vancouver and met my husband”, so the grass isn’t always greener).
    Good luck with your brother! My family used to find it hilarious that I actually did wear a white coat and latex gloves…

  15. Cath Ennis says:
    July 21, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    And the verdict is in:
    “I used the sky-scout for thr 1st time tonight, just a few minutes ago.July the 20th seemed a good day to do this !!!
    I used both the “locate” and Identify ” facilities and found it fun and very good, I even let Dad play with it for a while ! We just saw sky-lab disappear rapidly into the West… I wasn’t fast enough to see if the gizmo could identify it. The forecast for the next 2 days isn’t too good, so I’m glad I could use it tonight. Thank you very much.. another inspired idea.”

Comments are closed.