Gremlin’s Fireside Chat

Probably a totally pointless blog; But who cares – its my blog and there are probably no readers apart from bots anyway. Whilst mowing the lawn – why does not grass learn to grow to just the right hight and then stop growing – when I almost ran over a frog. The genuine browney green coloured frog around 3 inches long. I don’t who was more surprised, them or me. Especially since the only water around us is salt water. Managed to get X and Maeve out into the garden for a good oogling of the frog before it hopped on its way into the undergrowth.

I have not seen frog since I was a kid when we use to search the ponds around our village in England for tadpoles to collect.

It’s not often you get to meet a legend. But I did today – and it was all thanks to my wonderful wife X and the company she works for Depfa Bank. Depfa sponsor (thanks) the Royal Irish Academy lectures on various subjects and have some really good speakers. A couple of years ago there was John Nash (the chap Russell Crowe played in “A Beautiful Mind“) who gave an interesting maths lecture; But today it was James D Watson who along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkin’s was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the structure of DNA (a double-helix) and it was a cracker. Bertie Aherm may be little more than a foot note in history, but James Watson and the others wrote a complete chapter – being the founding fathers of Modern Genetics, a whole new discipline in science AND medicine – and holding out potential cures for so many diseases. People will be still talking about Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins a thousand years for now.

No Doubt you can see, like the 100 odd others who were there I was entralled by the man. A man who in his late 70’s has still got all his faculties; still writing and meeting people and pushing science hard amongst those grey and shadowy men in power. The talk, after a short ceremony where Dr Watson signed the members book (see photo), talk the form of a Science Journalist from the Irish Times asking questions about Dr Watson’s life and work, Although I knew that Watson from childhood was a book-worm (”never good at sports”) I did not know for example that after the nobel prize he was a Science Advisor to many American Presidents including Kenedy and that he saved Cold-Harbour from Bankruptcy and made it one of the premier genetics labs in the world.

There is one thing I do agree with Dr Watson – “Anyone would be stupid to go into Science for a career” because the money is so poor. I did my MSc in Computer Applications, but would not go into a Phd because it cost too much and I could earn a lot more being an IT Contractor. I would love to do a PHD and do full-time research, but it does not pay enough to buy a house and raise a family. This is problem for society, and increasingly so in the future where only the big corporations will be able pay for research and reap the rewards. Science and research (of the right kind) is too important to leave to the whims of politicians and corporations. We should fund science at a greater level than say defense – in the medium to long run we will all benifit. Its obscene that most premier footballers make more in a couple of weeks than 99.99% of scientists do in a year!!!

Science needs more funds now – so get out there an badger your local council, political representitive and corporation.

Thanks James D. Watson; it was a pleasure meeting you.

Here is a photo I took of Dr Watson accepting his honoury membership of the Royal Irish Academy.