Keep American Science Alive
December 27, 2011 – Huda Akil
When I was growing up in Damascus, the notion that a little Syrian girl could become a scientist seemed like an impossible dream. Then I read the story of Marie Curie and her move from Poland to France to study physics, and I became obsessed with the thought of some day going to Paris to study science. One evening, my parents were indulgently telling a family friend about my wild ambitions when he turned to me and said: “If you want to dream big, dream about going to America. That’s where great science happens these days.”