Talk:Elizabeth Blackburn

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Early life and Education
There appears to be an error in the description of Blackburn's secondary education as being in Victorian public (i.e. government) schools. My wife has just informed me and I quote "I went to Broadland with her, but I can't edit it because the server thinks I'm a troll. LOL" I think she means Broadland House in Launceston, Tasmania (edited...she does). Broadland House has since merged with Launceston Grammar. Following on from further information from my wife, I have made some corrections to the section dealing with Blackburn's secondary education. I'm afraid we don't know about her primary years, nor indeed where she attended school in Wagga Wagga (presumable Wagga High, but I have no evidence for that). Incidentally, according to my wife, Blackburn's father Harold and her mother were both doctors in Launceston at the time she was at school there (my wife's father was also a doctor in Launceston at the same time and knew the Blackburns, so I may well be able to get more information from him soon) --Phil Wardle (talk) 04:34, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Also, I tagged a conflict regarding the first two sentences (or more explanation is required): Elizabeth Blackburn being born in Hobart seems to conflict with her parents moving to the town when she was four.

Fired from President's Council on Bioethics
This wording was approved by consensus, and then somebody changed it on 22 August to a weaker statement without giving any reason or explanation in the edit box or talk.

Blackburn's work on the President's Council on Bioethics is important, because it demonstrates how scientists are active in politics and work in the social context of science.

The fact that she was fired is also important. She was fired because she maintained a politically unpopular position that she believed was supported by the science.

Her firing provides support for the argument that the Bush Administration and their supporters are hostile to science.

Many scientists applauded Blackburn's decision to protest her firing, rather than go silently, as an example of how a scientist should act on matters of social policy.

The sources for this are cited in the Bioethics section. -- Nbauman (talk) 12:57, 5 October 2009 (UTC)


 * In an interview that Blackburn gave in re the President's Council on Bioethics a while back -- see http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/reprint/55/4/835.pdf -- Blackburn states that she wasn't so much fired from the council as not asked to stay on for a second term, which was an attempt at a much more sinister form of marginalization than simply being fired; if fired, there would have to be some sort of cause. I remember reading other interviews quite some time ago where Blackburn went into greater detail about how she was directed to unscientific and non-peer reviewed papers by the powers that be on the council, and that she dismissed those sources as being so much rubbish.  Personally, I think the story should be told about how and why her membership was unceremoniously "not renewed," and that she refused to go quietly.  // Internet Esquire (talk) 07:10, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

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