Her Hidden Genius Quotes
"I marvel at the meeting of sky and ground, breathtaking even in winter with the spires of Notre-Dame looming over the thin wisps of cloud."
"Papa would call it heaven touching earth, but I believe in science, not God."
"With each passing block, the cafés of the Left Bank, their sidewalk tables busy even on an early Monday morning in February, peel away."
"When the Nazis shot innocent French citizens and blameless Jews, did molecules from the German soldiers who loaded the bullets pass through their victims?"
"Imagine, I think with a shake of my head, that until twenty years ago, the very existence of the subuniverse that dominates my work was open to debate."
"The hard work and the commitment to science is commendable, he had said, but why must you take a position in Paris?"
"I couldn’t let our newest chercheur arrive without a proper greeting, could I?"
"An extraordinary mind deserves extraordinary care."
"The hum of scientific apparatus operating and bright minds engrossed in pioneering research is like a symphony to me."
"Could it be possible that for the first time in my life, I’ve found a place to belong?"
"I’ve learned that there are actually two forms of DNA."
"Science won’t give you a family, and it won’t give you faith. These things are what matter, what last."
"You cannot live your life as a scientific problem to solve, dispassionately excising the parts that don’t fit your theories and standards—you must allow yourself to feel and experience."
"Achieving this goal would allow me to leave a significant mark on science, one that transcends mankind’s understanding of the smallest building blocks of inorganic materials."
"I’m not certain I want to return to England. Ever."
"We are entering a unique phase of scientific discovery, one that may well become competitive and even contentious in the days to come as revelations come to light."
"We all share a common goal—scientific understanding."
"I’m trained in chemistry but working on a biological issue in a physics lab."
"X-ray crystallography will never be able to solve the puzzle of the protein’s structure."
"We take turns holding up various and sundry objects—table tennis balls and erasers of different sizes and shapes among them—but none of them seem to fit."
"Ken points to a particular photograph on the floor. 'Look at that clear image there. Does that prompt any ideas?'"
"You’re bullying him, Rosalind,' Aaron says, as if I do not already know."
"Having suffered at the hands of patronizing superiors myself, I don’t want to exact that sort of treatment on my assistants."
""Apologies, Ken. You know I get carried away. And I’m not always terribly—" I drift off, unsure how to finish this sentence."
""I have it!" Ken suddenly calls out. "What about a bicycle handlebar grip? It’s almost the exact shape of the protein subunit.""
""Two hundred and eighty-eight," I say without a beat."
""Don’t forget your umbrella. The forecast calls for rain," I call out as he exits my room."
"The notion that my dislike of the Soviet Union alienates my politically minded coworkers would not have been news to me, but the idea that my social standing upsets them does astonish."
""Probably true. But you are a formidable patient, and she very likely doesn’t know how to tend you without offending.""
"I always keep my obligations, Papa. No matter how I feel and no matter what is happening in the world around me."
"But it also served another, urgent purpose—it gave me inroads to obtain the necessary U.S. National Institutes of Health funds."
"Aaron and I stare at each other across my desk, and I wonder if I look different."
""Of course not," I joke back. "You’ve undoubtedly made minestrone soup out of the various vegetable viruses we are studying.""
""I’ve already done all those treatments." I reach for his hand. "They gave me time for more science and the gift of today."