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Sciencey Heroes For Young Children?

An anonymous reader writes "Unhappy that all his friends have heroes he knows nothing about (they've all chosen hockey players — actually a hockey player: Sidney Crosby), my eight-year-old son asked me if I would find him a 'cool hero.' When pressed to define 'cool,' he very earnestly gave me this list of acceptable professions: 'Astronauts, explorers, divers, scientists, and pilots.' A second and only slightly less worthy tier of occupations includes 'inventors, meteorologists, and airplane designers.' To be eligible for hero status, an individual must be (1) accomplished in one of these fields, (2) reasonably young (it pains me to report that Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, NASA's youngest astronaut and now just 31, barely makes the cut), and, critically to my naive son's way of thinking, (3) respected by third graders nationwide. Ignoring that last criterion, or not, what heroes would you suggest from the sciences as people whose lives and accomplishments would be compelling to an eight-year-old mind?"

8 of 614 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Mark Zuckerberg by bradgoodman · · Score: 0, Troll

    Exactly. Short bio. Some skill, some luck - came out on top. Aren't there a lot of guys out there like that? Like that guy that invented Netscape who everyone was drooling over 10 years ago? You, know....what's-his-name...

  2. Biologist? by ArhcAngel · · Score: 0, Troll

    How about this guy?

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  3. Re:Jesus Christ is my #1 Science Hero! by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 0, Troll

    Wonderful choice, because just like all other super heroes, he isn't real!

  4. Re:Mark Zuckerberg by Idiomatick · · Score: 0, Troll

    A 'hero' is some one you are supposed to look up to and possibly strive to be more like. Mark Zuckerberg is an evil asshole that got to where he is through underhandedness.

    Completely offtopic: Firefox's built in spell checker wants to correct asshole to arsehole. Weird.

  5. Re:Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger is 35... by MichaelKristopeit199 · · Score: 0, Troll
    why do you cower? what are you afraid of?

    you're completely pathetic.

  6. Re:Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger is 35... by MichaelKristopeit198 · · Score: 0, Troll
    you choose to be NOTHING.

    you are less than a woman.

    why do you cower? what are you afraid of?

    you're completely pathetic.

  7. Re:Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger is 35... by MichaelKristopeit197 · · Score: 0, Troll
    you must be the ignorant hypocritical marketeer here.

    why do you cower? what are you afraid of?

    you're completely pathetic.

  8. Re:Scientific method != science by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 0, Troll

    physics students at university would not be 'doing science' because what they are learning has already been done before.

    Exactly correct - they are learning science, not doing science, with the exception of the usual final year research project.