10 Motivating Stories of Research Struggle and Triumph

Science and research is a life and career of long-term commitment, integrity and determination. Appreciation and incentive are often low, and funds are short which can demotivate people from choosing to this path. Struggles become harder if you have to strive financially too. However, if your do work on a splendid research question, and decide to publish your thesis, it is not hard in today’s world. You can make great contribution to the world by attending to journal call for papers. But, it was not that easy always. There were dark areas even in the life of the most successful researchers. These science stories can be really inspiring for young researchers of the time-

1. Albert Einstein, the Struggling Physicist– This might sound like old-school inspiration, however, when we talk about research struggles, Einstein’s life has to come in the discussion. After graduating from the Swiss Polytechnic Institute, he was struggling for employment, when his father died. He did odd jobs like selling insurance etc. He transformed the ways physicists look at light, gravity and space today, with his findings, but they all came at a high cost. He had to divorce his wife and lose his children; scientists of his time thought he was mad; he became physically and mentally ill, years into the research. The enormous amount of stress had really taken a toll onto his health. He felt extremely exhausted, and very unhappy. To make matters worse, World War Two breaks out, and his years and years of research is put on a halt. Since Einstein was a German-Jew, Einstein’s safety was also at risk. His methods and equations are taught in schools.
2. Alfred Noble’s Dynamite creation– Alfred Nobel invented and manufactured dynamite, the blasting cap, gelignite, and ballistite. When Alfred was born his family was penniless. He was sickly as an infant and survived only because of his caring mother. He suffered ill-health for most of his life. Alfred was educated at a school for impoverished children where there were frequent playground fights. Most pupils were beaten by their teachers every day for any small mistakes. From there he rose, loving the world of science and academia. Support systems were lacking; no great infrastructure for research works, but he excelled in his work. In his last will and testament, he bequeathed over ninety percent of the enormous fortune he made from explosives to fund the Nobel Prizes.
3. Mary Anning, the Fossil Finder– Mary Anning became the greatest fossil finder of her era, powerfully influencing the new science of paleontology. She overcame a lack of formal education to emerge as one of the world’s foremost authorities on fossils. Mary’s parents had ten children, but the tough conditions they lived in meant only two survived to be adults. At 15 months old, Mary with other children and their career took shelter under a tree in a rainstorm. A lightning strike killed all except Mary. Her parents rented a cheap house so close to the shore that the sea flooded it when there were very high tides. Mary did not attend school, but learned to read and write at Sunday school. Once again, she exemplifies, true passion for academics, which made her successful, beyond the obstacles.
4. Rosalind Franklin– Researchers spend a great deal of time thinking about novel experiments and untapped research questions. There is, perhaps, nothing more disappointing than finding that your idea has already been tested and published. Now imagine if you discovered the shape of DNA, but didn’t receive any of the credit. Rosalind Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who played a critical role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure. Even though James Watson and Francis Crick is credited most heavily for solving DNA’s molecular structure, Franklin was the first to obtain high-resolution photos of DNA’s ladder-like structure. However, before she could pursue her research further, Franklin’s colleague, Maurice Wilkens, revealed her unpublished findings to Watson and Crick and the three men were later awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for the discovery of the DNA structure. Just four years later, Franklin passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 37, possibly due to her work with X-rays.
5. Jane Goodall– the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, is one of the first scientists on the job. Her autobiography, My Life with Chimpanzees, has her own accounts of life in Africa’s jungles. Goodall pioneered the field of primatology and greatly affected the way ethological studies are conducted. However, these accomplishments certainly did not come without its challenges. For instance, getting funding is almost always a pain and Goodall was not exempt from this struggle. When she was 18, Goodall stopped schooling and worked three jobs –as a secretary, assistant film editor, and as a waitress – just to pay for her first trip to Africa. At the age of 23, Goodall finally made it to Mombasa, Africa. Once there, she contacted the anthropologist, Louis Leakey. Since she did not have a bachelor’s degree, Goodall worked as Leakey’s secretary and spent years observing chimpanzees in the field before pursuing her PhD. So, if you did not major in your current field or feel that you don’t know as much as your colleagues, don’t worry. It will come with time and effort.
6. Rebecca Tarvin of Poison Frogs– The biodiversity around us is almost magical. There are researches and scientific experiments being carried out each day. In case you wish to publish your thesis, respond to a journal call for paper in your area of interest. Rebecca Tarvin, a postdoctoral fellow in Integrative Biology at the University of Texas, teamed up with researchers, including professors David Cannatella and Harold Zakon, and what they found along the way may have implications for the study of human pain and addiction. Initial days were hard; samples that were allowed for testing, were hard to find. However, determination always gets its way.
7. Mary Maynard Daly– Some scientific stories become legends, which we read and re-read for understanding science as well as for inspiration. Daly was the first African American woman to earn a Ph. D. in chemistry from Columbia university in 1947. Research culture wasn’t really developed or supportive towards women at that time. She had to deal with gender inequalities, racial minority issues, plus infrastructural lacks while coping with her research ideas. She made huge contribution to composition and metabolism of components in the cell nucleus. Later, she had improved opportunities for minorities in colleges and universities of graduate studies in America.
8. TuYouyou– She is known for her Nobel-winning discovery of artemisinin which has been used to save millions of lives in Africa and Asia. The pressure to produce interesting or novel results is always daunting and Tu was no exception. In 1969, TuYouyou, then a young scientist, received the mission to develop an anti-malaria drug as part of a secret military mission called Project 523. In the midst of China’s cultural revolution, Tu was sent to Hainan, a tropical island in southern China, where malaria was rampant. Under pressure to develop a cure, Tu sacrificed her entire social life to live in in the rainforests of Hainan where she also witnessed the death of many children suffering from late stage malaria. Living in forests can be extremely daunting, with lack of basic facilities like flush toilets, fan or running water. There is fear of insects, wildlife etc. too. Additionally, south China forests can be very hot and humid, so we can imagine what the scientist may have gone through for data.
9. Jacob Berzelius– When Jacob was four, his father died. His mother remarried, but died when Jacob was nine. He was looked after by his step-father until, at age 12, he moved to live with his alcoholic aunt. He stayed outdoors, avoiding her as much as possible. At age 13, Jacob was admitted to a Cathedral School where he tutored wealthy students to pay for his education and board. He worked on farms during vacations, sleeping in storage rooms. He picked up lice, which the farmer’s wife killed by washing his hair in potassium hydroxide. Jacob Berzelius was one of the founders of modern chemistry. He discovered three chemical elements, and he was the first person to measure accurate atomic weights for the elements.
10. Srinivasa Ramanujan– Not unknown to the world of mathematics, this brilliant Indian researcher worked skillfully on his numbers, even with the lack of required facilities. Srinivasa was born into a very poor family. As a teenager, he began discovering important mathematical results. He worked with chalk on slate, only transferring the most important results to paper, because he could barely afford any paper. All too often in these early years his stomach was empty. He memorized a huge number of mathematical formulas and constants. He died at age 32, probably of liver parasite infection. Srinivasa Ramanujan produced almost 4,000 proofs, identities, conjectures, and equations in pure mathematics. His theta function lies at the heart of string theory in physics.