Blog 12

The chapter of this reading that connected with me the most was chapter nine. The title speaks volumes, as it explains how Barbara McClintock was speaking a foreign language to man y scientists who were not fully involved in her realm of genetics. Although she was still speaking English, many of her colleagues thought she was crazy, and began to show less support because they simply could not understand her work. I think that this is a crucial part in McClintock’s development as a scientist. Instead of taking this criticism, and using it as a point for improvement, she did the opposite. She became more quick tempered and closed her doors to individual’s that criticized her work. With that being said, as a practicing physician, you will need to explain complex medical findings to your patients that are definitely not experts in the field. So taking the McClintock approach is probably not the best way to go about things when trying to treat patients.

In addition, I cannot help but realize the drastic difference in character that Darwin and McClintock had. Darwin was always open to criticism, and made it a point to have all the evidence necessary to back up his claims. He wanted his work to benefit more than just the scientific community, as he appreciated the societal impacts his research had just as much as the scientific ones. On the other hand, McClintock was the polar opposite in that regard. She did not like people insulting her research because she knew that she was right. If I were to pick a scientist to follow under, I would definitely want to pick Darwin. This is because he was open to all opinions, and made an honest effort to not get upset when his research was questioned upon.