{"id":12440,"date":"2021-01-20T09:52:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T17:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/?p=12440"},"modified":"2021-01-20T09:52:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T17:52:55","slug":"lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynn Margulis Science Teacher Extraordinaire\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LynnLynn Margulis, science teacher, biologist, explorer, pioneer.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mom, Lynn Margulis, is best known as an evolutionary biologist who championed the importance of microorganisms. She liked to call herself an \u201cevolutionist\u201d as she thought the designation \u201cbiologist\u201d did not do justice to the breadth and depth of her ideas. Her work challenges us to think differently about the mechanisms of evolution. Lynn Margulis showed the world that it is symbiosis<\/span>\u2014<\/span>organisms living together in mutually beneficial relationships<\/span>\u2014<\/span>that is the most important mechanism of evolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Lynn Margulis was also a tremendously gifted teacher. As I\u2019ve been working on a book about my mom\u2019s life and work, I have been interviewing many of her students. These conversations have been fascinating, enlightening, and also emotionally charged. They remember her as Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire.<\/span><\/p>\n

A seriously underperforming undergraduate<\/b><\/h3>\n

One of her students was Mark Winston. Winston, as he explains in <\/span>this blog<\/span><\/a>, was \u201ca seriously underperforming undergraduate student at Boston University in 1970.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He was bored by classes and distracted by, well, all the things that distract a 20-year-old man before the advent of the <\/span>internet<\/span><\/a>. Until, that is, he met my Lynn Margulis, aka my mom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Winston needed a summer job. As a Biology major, he decided to knock on faculty members\u2019 doors to see if he could find a research position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But his unkempt hair, shaggy beard, and unwashed overalls did little to recommend him to B.U.\u2019s biology professors.<\/span><\/p>\n

And his transcript didn\u2019t help. It was pathetic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dismissed at every door<\/b><\/h3>\n

As Winston describes in his own words, he was \u201cquickly refused and dismissed at every door.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But then he found himself standing outside my mom\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t been paying attention to college. He had no idea that Lynn Margulis, even then, was among the most stellar evolutionary biologists of the last hundred years, and Boston University\u2019s most famous scientist at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo me,\u201d Winston writes, \u201cshe was just another door to knock on and face what I had come to expect as inevitable rejection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then something unexpected happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire and revolutionary evolutionist, dragged Winston into her office. She spent most of that afternoon passionately and enthusiastically introducing him to singled-celled organisms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe pulled out old articles by LR Cleveland about the magnificent termite gut symbionts, and the work of then-obscure Russian protozoologists describing the most bizarre organisms imaginable. I didn\u2019t understand more than 5% of what she was saying, but her passion hooked me. And to my great surprise she gave me a summer job, and let me loose in her lab to do real research.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Curiosity matters, not grades<\/strong><\/h3>\n

My mother didn\u2019t care about convention. She didn\u2019t care about trimmed beards and expensive haircuts. Or about grades. (She always told me that straight-A students were just teacher pleasers. Brown-nosers who may or may not be smart.) She cared about passion, drive, and curiosity.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire, unleashed that passion in Mark Winston. He went from earning Cs and Ds to becoming the co-author of several peer-reviewed original scientific papers. While still an undergraduate, which is almost unheard of. During my mom’s long and astonishingly productive career she ignited a light in the minds of hundreds, if not thousands, of aspiring scientists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mark

Mark Winston, a student at B.U., describes Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire, as his fairy godmother. Once a seriously underperforming undergraduate, he went on to become a successful scientist. He is currently Professor and Senior Fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Photo courtesy of Mark Winston.<\/p><\/div>\n

Turning toads into princes<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cI had the pleasure of introducing Lynn at a lecture once, and called her my fairy godmother,\u201d Mark Winston, who went on to become an accomplished entomologist, writes, \u201cI think that\u2019s about it: She reached out and touched so many of us with her magic wand, turning what looked like toads into princes with her unwavering confidence and support that we could be more, way more, than we thought we could be.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t that what teaching should be about?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

About Mark L. Winston<\/strong>: Mark L. Winston is a professor of Apiculture and Social Insects at Simon Fraser University. A biologist and a writer, he has spent much of his career studying bees. He is the author of <\/span>Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive<\/span><\/i><\/a> (2015) and <\/span>Listening to Bees<\/span><\/i><\/a> (co-authored with poet Ren\u00e9e Sarojini Saklikar, 2018).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mark

Mark Winston remembers Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire. Once a scruffy and unkempt undergraduate at Boston University, this eminent entomologist cleans up real nice.<\/p><\/div>\n

Related articles:<\/strong>
\nWhat’s the Microbiome?<\/a>
\nLynn Margulis in On Wisconsin<\/a>
\nBe Kind to Your Mom, Warts and All\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lynn Margulis, science teacher, biologist, explorer, pioneer. My mom, Lynn Margulis, is best known as an evolutionary biologist who championed the importance of microorganisms. She liked to call herself an \u201cevolutionist\u201d as she thought the designation \u201cbiologist\u201d did not do justice to the breadth and depth of her ideas. Her work challenges us to think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[8349,85,8162],"tags":[57,12854,12853],"yoast_head":"\nLynn Margulis Science Teacher Extraordinaire\u00a0 — Jennifer Margulis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"She was arguably the most famous and important biologist of the 20th century but her students remember her as Lynn Margulis, science teacher.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lynn Margulis Science Teacher Extraordinaire\u00a0 — Jennifer Margulis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"She was arguably the most famous and important biologist of the 20th century but her students remember her as Lynn Margulis, science teacher.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jennifer Margulis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-20T17:52:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Lynn-Margulis-Ph.D..png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"862\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1322\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JenniferMarguli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JenniferMarguli\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\",\"name\":\"andrew.bolsinger@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/favicon.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"andrew.bolsinger@gmail.com\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Margulis\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Lynn-Margulis-Ph.D..png\",\"width\":862,\"height\":1322,\"caption\":\"Lynn Margulis, science teacher extraordinaire | Jennifer Margulis\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/\",\"name\":\"Lynn Margulis Science Teacher Extraordinaire\\u00a0 — Jennifer Margulis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-20T17:52:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-20T17:52:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"She was arguably the most famous and important biologist of the 20th century but her students remember her as Lynn Margulis, science teacher.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"NewsArticle\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/67e61047e1948300049a109cfc61e3bd\"},\"headline\":\"Lynn Margulis Science Teacher Extraordinaire\\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-20T17:52:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-20T17:52:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#webpage\"},\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#primaryimage\"},\"keywords\":\"Lynn Margulis,science teacher,teaching science\",\"articleSection\":\"Cutting-edge Science,Lynn Margulis,Vibrant Living\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.jennifermargulis.net\/lynn-margulis-science-teacher-extraordinaire\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/67e61047e1948300049a109cfc61e3bd\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e01629bab8cc8e8d5aa55b861a6d6752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an investigative journalist, book author, and Fulbright awardee. She is the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family, co-author (with Paul Thomas, M.D.) of The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, and The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12440"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12445,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440\/revisions\/12445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}