Sign-In
Cart
Watersheds: The Making of a Research Scientist
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781764852982
Publisher: Ballara Press
Published: Aug 11 2026
Pages: 212
Weight: 1.14
Height: 0.55 Width: 7.00 Depth: 10.00
Language: English
Research scientists are the people who find out everything we know about our world; physics, chemistry and biology. From the largest, such as the expansion of the universe, to the smallest, like the identity of sub-atomic particles, and to the most profound; is there extraterrestrial life?
Michael Guppy is a retired biochemist and in the first five chapters, describes his life as a series of serendipitous accidents which culminated in him becoming a research scientist. These 'accidents' took the form of watershed events and watershed people. As his life progressed, its erratic path was littered with dead-ends, misconceived detours and periods of aimless and stagnant indecision. But just as watersheds determine the paths of raindrops, the author's watersheds, independent of, and at times despite him, continued to unerringly guide and steer his life towards the final outcome; a productive and successful scientist.
In the last two chapters the author candidly and modestly describes in detail, the multi-faceted, onerous, difficult and ultimately rewarding aspects that comprise the lot of the research scientist. The dedication, the years involved, and the rigorous standards supporting the discoveries come to life, and provide the reader with a rare insight into this demanding world.
Also from
Guppy, Michael
Also in
Biographies General
Bluesland: Portraits of Thirteen Major American Blues Masters
Pete Welding (ED.)
Toby Byron (ED.)
Hardcover
Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902 1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna
Hacohen, Malachi Haim
Hardcover
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
Trump, Mary L.
Hardcover
The Children of Athena: Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 150 Bc0-400 AD
Freeman, Charles
Hardcover
Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
Sackier, Shelley
Hardcover
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Hardcover
Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s
Howe, Sean
Hardcover
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents Over Three Centuries
Correia, David
Hardcover
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Cooper, Christian
Hardcover
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
The Secret Life of the Savoy: Glamour and Intrigue at the World's Most Famous Hotel
Williams, Olivia
Paperback
The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
Kinney, David
Wittman, Robert K.
Paperback
The Badger: The Life of Bernard Hinault and the Legacy of French Cycling
Fotheringham, William
Paperback
Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry
Cherington, Gretchen
Paperback
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
Dessa Wander
Hardcover
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Hardcover
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paperback
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Dohrn, Zayd Ayers
Hardcover
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Colloff, Pamela
Hardcover