An introverted “mad” scientist speaks candidly and makes no apologies
Sunday, 2015/10/25 | 06:51:10
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The IRRI Pioneer Interviews conducted by Gene Hettel | Oct 21, 2015
Figure: BOB’S WIFE, Crissan [with him and daughters Claire and Ali in Laos in January 2007], has always been an unbelievable supporter. “There is no way I could possibly have done what I did without her support and role as a tremendous sounding board,” he says.
Dr. Robert S.”Bob” Zeigler is an internationally respected plant pathologist with more than 30 years of experience in agricultural research in the developing world, most of them involved with rice. He has been the director general (DG) of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the last 10+ years—the second longest tenure after the Institute’s founding DG, Robert F. Chandler, Jr. (1960-72). As DG, Bob set the Institute’s strategic direction and he has also been a passionate spokesperson on a wide range of issues that affect rice growers and consumers worldwide.
Proclaiming himself an introvert, he gave this IRRI pioneer interview, conducted in his office at IRRI headquarters on 28 August 2015. With his customary wit and candor, he discussed his life both before and during his professional career, which has spanned time in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. He retires on 11 December 2015.
The selected excerpts here are just the tip of the “riceberg.” Much of the rest of Bob’s 4-hour interview will soon be published on the Rice Today website. It will feature anecdotes about polar bears and all-meat dinners above the Arctic Circle, studying forest fires in Crater Lake National Park, what gives him goose bumps, and the wheels of the brilliant machine that is IRRI. He also gives frank opinions and views on a wide-ranging set of topics—including Golden Rice, IRRI’s proud Filipino roots, the funding roller coaster, the plight of smallholder farmers, the role of women, the humbling experience of working with national programs, the Svalbard Doomsday Vault, climate change, growing up Catholic, advice for the incoming DG, and much, much more.
Agricultural beginnings on Pennsylvania dairy farms
A fourth grader’s wish: to be a mad scientist
That led to a curiosity that transferred into science. I liked the 1950s’ science fiction movies such as The Killer Shrews and The Bride of Frankenstein. And, there were the comic book superheroes such as Superman, Batman, and the rest. They had in them the good and the evil of science wrapped throughout. I took the good and thought it was exciting. This was pretty instrumental in shaping how I view the world. The mad scientist role was a career model. I could be a mad scientist!
See more: http://ricetoday.irri.org/an-introverted-mad-scientist-speaks-candidly-and-makes-no-apologies/ |
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