Posted by Astronomer_Guy on December 06, 2002 at 07:21:59 from 212.77.0.2 user Astronomer_Guy.
In Reply to: The dream posted by Gillian on December 05, 2002 at 19:09:20:
When I was 13 I was a nerdly boy with thick glasses and an interest in science. In Arthur Ransome's books I found a character I could relate to. I had the dream, too...
In 1977 (my second trip to England, for a science conference) I actually sailed to Wildcat Island and it was like stepping into the dream. In the 1980's I got a job teaching astronomy at a small American university, and the first time a student shouted "hey, professor!" at me I flashed on a memory of Dick Callum and smiled.
And best of all, in 1996 I found myself on a scientific expedition to Antarctica. Diving a snowmobile pulling a Nansen sled across the East Antarctic Plateau, I felt like a twelve year old kid on a frozen lake in the North.
Hold on to the dream; it can come true.