• Question: Is David Attenborough one of your favourite scientist?

    Asked by anon-218024 to Shannah, Richard, Matthew (known as Kaan by, johnpaterson, Emma, Anna on 10 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Emma Markham

      Emma Markham answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I definitely think David Attenborough is inspirational, and watching his nature documentaries when I was really small was one of my earliest memories. But there are so many other amazing scientists and naturalists, I used to love watching Big Cat Diaries with Simon King when I was a kid. I also greatly admire women in science history, like Mary Anning, who discovered several new species of fossilised dinosaurs and changed Victorian Britain’s understanding of these creatures.

    • Photo: Matthew Alkan

      Matthew Alkan answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I have alot of respect for David however like Emma says there are so many other great scientists so it would be rude to pick just one

    • Photo: John Paterson

      John Paterson answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      David Attenborough was definitely a major influence on me when I was younger and I think his work in getting people interested in nature is incredible but I guess I have lots of favourite scientists.

      Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel-Wallace are big heroes of mine as they came up with the theory of evolution but there are loads of scientists and naturalists throughout the ages who I find inspirational – the physicist Richard Feynman, Rosalind Franklin and Francis Crick and their role in discovering DNA, Stephen Jay Gould who wrote so many incredible essays on biology. Even people from earlier history like Aristotle, who lived about 2,500 years ago and was one of the first people to try to understand how nature worked.

    • Photo: Anna Gardner

      Anna Gardner answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Sir David Attenborough has been a huge inspiration for me growing up.
      Watching his documentaries from a young age really ignited a passion and curiosity of the natural world. His enthusiasm for wildlife and plants is just captivating. I feel that he can explain and show everything so well. Whether it be a small insect to a huge mammal or an entire landscape, however weird and wonderful. I feel he has not only shown me the world in a new light, but that his enthusiasm is contagious. I too love to teach people about the natural world and the importance of that education. He has influenced my career choice and also made me really curious about exploring the world. Watching the places he has visited has influenced my love of wandering the earth to find out more!

      There are many other influential people and scientists out there. Yet, I feel that I would not have researched and looked into half of those scientists without having first been influenced by Attenborough.
      If you have not watched any of the documentaries yet, go watch them!

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