“‘I wanted to be famous, of course, like every scientist does,’ Soulé told me, chuckling.”
This quote, from the late biologist Michael Soulé, is from journalist Michelle Nijhuis’ “Beloved Beasts.” “Beloved Beasts” was (or is, to those of you who haven’t done it yet) required reading for first-years in Human Experience and seniors in Imagining Justice.
Ultimately, in the context of the text, this quote isn’t too important; It’s a joke, and Soulé goes on to say he “didn’t care whether it was applied or theoretical.” The joke simply helps close a discussion of the split between applied and theoretical sciences…