Who are scientists? What sort of person lives a life of curiosity and discovery, of thirsting for new information and looking for solutions to big problems? How does a person end up in a science-based career?

If you don’t know any scientists personally, or even if you do, the motivations of someone who works with science on a daily basis might seem obscure. The whole pursuit of science might be obscure – what it is, how and where it’s done, who are the folks encountered along the way.

Scientists are generally people following a passion, led by their own curiosity and a desire to contribute, both to the human knowledge collection and to solutions to the world’s problems. Although pop culture has a tendency to profile the scientist as a loner with a God complex, in my experience that’s just not the case.

I’ve been extremely lucky to meet some wonderful people in science over the past few years who have inspired me to pick up a pen (or a keyboard) and tell their stories. Some of them I wrote about in the magazine Komaza while I was a student at MIT. Others I’ve interviewed more recently as part of a new regular series on this website called Conversation with a Scientist.

Linked below are the articles I’ve written about people in science, giving a glimpse inside the inner workings of this lovely collection of individuals. I hope you enjoy meeting them as much as I did, and maybe something of their passion and curiosity will inspire you to look a little differently at the world around you.

Introducing: Sally Thompson

Introducing: Lejo Flores

Introducing: Eben Cross

Introducing: Melissa Garren

Introducing: Anne Carey and Berry Lyons

Spotlight on: Esther Duflo and J-PAL (article from Komaza Issue 6, Spring/Summer 2011)

Sitting Down with Amy Mueller (article from Komaza Issue 2, Winter 2009)

Sitting Down with Scot Frank (article from Komaza Issue 2, Winter 2009)