The point to this story is the sense of discovery and accomplishment I felt at the age of 22 when I built the equipment to burn up 2kg of Roman nails. Was this of any use to anybody else? The American taxpayers invested $13 000 in the experiment and a scientist does have a duty to society. Well, I achieved what I set out to do, which was to develop a dating method for iron alloys. With the new technology of accelerator mass spectrometry, this is now a useful method that can be carried out with small samples. I few years after I finished my doctorate on the subject, the Apollo space program put sensing equipment on the moon to measure the cosmic ray flux there. This involved thin strips of iron-carbon alloy in which the cosmic rays cause some of the carbon to be converted to radioactive carbon-14, which can then be measured. To do these measurements, NASA used the technology I had devised. So yes, I think I paid my dues to society in this case. This was hardly what I was thinking of when I collected birds’ eggs in primary school, or when I dreamed of the freedom of the skies at the controls of a fighter jet in high school. We cannot predict where the spirit of adventure will take us, but as scientists we cannot achieve very much without it.
And so, I became an academic and a scientist. I have had a lot of fun at it, but one thing remains to be said. My first paycheck went into flying lessons. I became a licensed pilot within four months and have been one ever since. Some youthful notions of adventure may never die.
Don’t let them.
