Robert Winston
Robert Winston
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston FMedSci FRSA FRCP FRCOG FIBiol FREngis a professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and Labour Party politician...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionDoctor
Date of Birth15 July 1940
children past thinking
Over the past 20 years, I have presented many science programmes on BBC1. But none is, I think, more socially important, or of more human interest, than this ongoing series of 'Child of Our Time.'
thinking laughing people
It's extraordinary to think that if you walked into a room and said you had never heard of Hamlet, you would be regarded as a Philistine. But you could walk into the same room and say, 'I don't know what a proton is,' and people would just laugh and say, 'Why should you know?'
thinking cells britain-and-america
Both in Britain and America, huge publicity has been given to stem cells, particularly embryonic stem cells, and the potential they offer. Of course, the study of stem cells is one of the most exciting areas in biology, but I think it is unlikely that embryonic stem cells are likely to be useful in healthcare for a long time.
thinking issues people
I don't much like being a public figure, because so often how people appear is not how they really are, and I think one of the issues about our society is that we make judgments about people on the basis of very flimsy evidence.
thinking medicine taught
Ethics is not routinely taught to science students except in medicine, and I think it should be.
thinking important age
I don't know whether it is important to study science at a young age, though current thinking emphasises the need.
mean thinking my-own
I like travelling on my own. It means I'm completely free to think about what's around me.
father thinking nine
My father died when I was nine, but I came from a stable family environment, which I think does contribute to being well-behaved.
memories simple thinking
Of course it is a very simple matter to identify genes which might modify intelligence or memory and start thinking about whether you want to enhance a human, and the next generation is going to have to deal with that issue. Should we be trying to enhance humans rather than trying to educate them and so on?
children ambition thinking
When I grew up, we didn't have a TV, and I think more families today have ambitions of getting out of their environment, such as sending their children to university.
cancer thinking years
I don't think we will find a cure for all cancers in the next 50 years let alone 20. I think it's foolishness to say that.
mistake humble thinking
I think it's important for scientists to be a bit less arrogant, a bit more humble, recognising we are capable of making mistakes and being fallacious - which is increasingly serious in a society where our work may have unpredictable consequences.
thinking people important
I'm a traditional Jew with an orthodox background, and it informs much of my approach to science. Of course I think it's very important that if you have those sorts of backgrounds you don't impose them on other people as a clinician, of course.
thinking television metaphor
I don't like seeing myself on television and I don't enjoy filming. What I actually enjoy is thinking about how I am going to express something or how we are going to make the visual metaphor.