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10/22/2001 Archived Entry: "Sanger"

Attended a lecture this evening by Fred Sanger, double Nobel prizewinner and all-round amazing biology guy. Sanger is around 80 years old now and hasn't participated in research for nearly 20 years, so he mainly talked about his experiences in protein and DNA sequencing work back in the 40's and 60's. It was good that he didn't shy away from including technical details of his work in the lecture, but I think it was a bit too involved and dry for some listeners (including me).

This is a problem with some lecturers; generally they start off quite well, then somehow get sidetracked into small details. However, once the lecture ends and the questions begin, it's as if they've become energised by some magical force and they're much more animated and alive when they relate their answers. I understand that there's no point having a lecture that's one long Q&A session, and certainly good lecturers don't even have to bother with any sort of interactivity. But interaction does work in many circumstances.

[I should point out that Sanger himself said he wasn't that good a lecturer, so don't take my post as if I was dissin' the homie]