Christiane Nusslein-Volhard
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhardis a German biologist. She won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development. Today she lives in Bebenhausen, Germany...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth20 October 1942
CountryGermany
successful age proud
In my age group I don't know a single woman who is as successful as I am. I am the total exception. You can be very proud of it. But you are also very isolated.
kids thinking people
The drive to want to know is innate in people. You cannot influence this. I think in contrast it is harmful if you push kids too far in a particular direction.
children hard-work doors
I was raised with this idea of hard work and keeping doors open. To be able to choose what you want to do in the future. That was what we tried to tell our children, too.
jobs moving successful
Not everybody is talented for doing research. I think many women prefer to look for an easier job after their dissertations because it is very demanding. You have to be mobile. You have to move to different places for your post-doc training. And if you aren't successful, it isn't a very pleasant job, either.
successful animal hands
The three of us have worked on the development of the small and totally harmless fruit fly, Drosophila. This animal has been extremely cooperative in our hands - and has revealed to us some of its innermost secrets and tricks for developing from a single celled egg to a complex living being of great beauty and harmony. ... None of us expected that our work would be so successful or that our findings would ever have relevance to medicine.
father kids pressure
The pressure on kids is high to get good grades. In my time, no one cared about it. My father looked at them but he didn't really make much fuss about them.
dream genetics fascinated
I immediately loved working with flies. They fascinated me, and followed me around in my dreams.
school hard-work thinking
Everyone thinks I must have been an ace in school. But I didn't work hard, I was lazy. I liked to be lazy. I thought laziness stimulated your imagination.
morning two always-trying
I was always trying to look modest and natural. I don't like women who come into the lab and you see immediately that it took them two hours to dress in the morning.
taken accomplishment important
It is very important for me to be taken seriously for my science and not for my looks or other personal accomplishments.
men differences mathematics
In mathematics and science, there is no difference in the intelligence of men and women. The difference in genes between men and women is simply the Y chromosome, which has nothing to do with intelligence.
successful thinking danger
Successful women are not liked. I think the biggest danger for women in science is colleagues who are not as good as you are.
against asked given people science women
I am often asked why there is discrimination against women in science. And I have given it some thought. With prejudicial attitudes, you can't really do much. You can point out when people discriminate and ask them not to.
dreams followed
I immediately loved working with flies. They fascinated me and followed me around in my dreams.