Using Nature's Shuttle: The Making of the First Genetically Modified Plants and the People Who Did It
Event Type(s):
Newberry Cultural Series
Description:
Retired FSO Judith Heimann will tell how she came to research and write the true story of how young scientists in a public Belgian university engaged in basic research came to make history by discovering what one Nobel laureate describes as "probably the greatest advance in agricultural biotechnology since the invention of agriculture".
One of the first Foreign Service "tandem" spouses, Heimann had barely retired when she began writing non-fiction books. Two of her earlier books were made into critically acclaimed tv documentaries that she helped write.
This is Heimann's fourth book, and her first on a scientific subject. It draws on her intensive interviews of more than two dozen scientists from a half dozen countries involved in this historic discovery. She sees this book as presenting, in a jargon-free prose, the actual science, as opposed to the rash of anti-science, on this subject. By describing the joy these young scientists — often the first of their families with a higher education — had working together, she also hopes to encourage a new generation of young people to look for careers in the wide open field of the life sciences.
Event Date:
6/19/2019
Event Time:
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern
Location:
DACOR Bacon House 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
Ms. Judith Heimann Author; Foreign Service Officer, retired Using Nature's Shuttle: The Making of the First Genetically Modified Plants and the People Who Did It
