Undergraduate /
Vanderbilt Summer Program (Science Outreach Program) [7]
A smoky, dimly lit room. Poor Ventilation. A middle aged man circumscribes the lab station. He has a yellowed notebook and a philosophy text in his hands. Two anxious, red eyes persistently scrutinize the pair of boiling, broth-filled bottles en col de cygne (flasks with a swan shaped duct), which rest approximately 10 centimeters from each other. 35 hours later... The man is busy scribbling. Glass shards lay on a work bench next to the man; both flasks remain on the table but one is broken open. The philosophy manuscript is open, Chapter 7: Spontaneous Generation and Genesis. Soon, the man arcs his back and takes a nap. The next morning... The broken flask is teeming with bacteria; the other sits relatively unchanged. The man arises and rubs his eyes. His scrutiny of the flasks has increased, but there is a sense of enlightenment and satisfaction. The man departs for breakfast. That man is Louis Pasteur.
More than a century later, a young 6th grader is gleefully observing a pair of two flasks closed with stoppers. RING, RING! The dismissal bell rings, yet the boy does not budge; he is determined to remain and take quality notes. Mrs. Smith approaches the boy and states, "The bell's rung, time for you to go". She repeats, "It's time to go". Hesitantly, he gets up, turns off the Bunsen burners, takes off a stopper out of one of the flasks, and leaves. A few mornings later, the 6th grader rushes back and closely scrutinizes his flasks; there is a speck of green bacteria in the opened flask. Later that day, Mrs. Smith explains, "About 150 years ago, a scientist named Louis Pasteur conducted this experiment. It is because of him that we are healthy today". The teacher went on with her lecture, but the inquisitive boy stared at the back of the room, at the green speck of bacteria. That boy was Dileep Karri.
As I further researched Pasteur during the remainder of middle school, I realized that science was not only the scientific method but also a type of art. Pasteur's idea was structured and relatively simple, but it required a commendable amount of ingenuity. When Pasteur first established his paper on Omne vivum ex ovo, biogenesis, it was not readily accepted. His experiment challenged the viewpoints of that time. However, Pasteur went on and repeated his experiment throughout Europe in order to convince others of his results. He was persistent.
My 6th grade replication and later research has greatly influenced my interest in science, but why? From Pasteur's experiment, I came to see science as a field of study in which, I can express my ideas and thoughts for the world in a structured and creative way. I saw science as an ocean of opportunity where I may search for answers to explain day to day phenomena, as Pasteur did. Pasteur's experiment required character, as I saw in my experiences with science fair. Science, I believe, is the key to society's progress.
How is it?
