The erudite Dennis Overbye, of the New York Times
Dennis Overbye has spent the last twenty years at the New York Times fighting a rearguard action against the forces of superstition and hidebound inflexibility in the cause of Good Science.
Good Science, according to Mr. Overbye, is fun and cool. Not the sole provenance of geeks and recluses. Emotionally scarred from having to memorize the Periodic Table by rote at the tender age of seven, Mr. Overbye is dedicated to the proposition that mixing diluted acetic acid with sodium bicarbonate is more fun than a barrel of kinkajous. And that quantum physics can be easily explained to a child -- but why bother?
Good Science, he continues, is fun. A game of hide and seek where scientists count to ten and then scatter to look for Hadrosaur fossils and tinker with bionic mushrooms. A race to see who will be first to find something darker than a black hole; to locate a new home for Goffin's cockatoos; and to find a cure for Adam Sandler movies.
A votary of Albert Einstein, Mr. Overbye keeps photos of the tousled-hair theoretician on his desk at the New York Times, in the living room of his home, in his bathroom, and under his pillow (where he hopes the Good Science Fairy will leave him a viable Grand Unified Theory some day.)
He suffers fools gladly but not indefinitely, and was recently awarded the Coast Guard's prestigious Transportation Distinguished Service Medal.
His favorite color is octarine, and he cultivates lithops in his spare time.
No comments:
Post a Comment