How I Became a Biochemist

Abstract

Why did I become a biochemist? I certainly did not plan to be a biochemist, indeed I had not heard of such an occupation when I was growing up. I was born in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia in a place called Deer Park. This suburb was established in the 1870s as a site for the manufacture of explosives for the goldfields in Ballarat and Bendigo. It was located exactly 12 miles from the centre of Melbourne so management could make the trip from the city centre to the factory and back in a day; a distance that could be comfortably covered by horse and carriage. Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) took over the factory in 1928 and the factory expanded during World War II and over the following years as Australia’s mining industry grew. During my childhood, most of the people who lived in this suburb worked for ICI and their children expected to find employment there when they finished school. My brothers were sent off to do apprenticeships and learn a trade, an option that was not available to a girl. I did not know any women who stayed in the workforce after they were married. I thus had freedom to study whatever I liked during my education at primary and secondary school as I was not expected to have a career. I did well at school, driven by natural curiosity and quite a bit of boredom when I was home. I collected tadpoles and nurtured them until they turned into frogs and learnt to love plants as I followed my mother around the garden. I gathered some concepts from Sunday school that I could not understand. They still bother me. Just how long is eternity and how far is infinity? I enjoyed the broad range of subjects at school and found humanities and science of equal interest. The first big decision that set me on the path to becoming a biochemist was when I had to choose between the science and humanities stream at the end of year 10. My father, inspired by his career in the chemical industry, encouraged me to take the tougher option and do science. How strange when he did not encourage his own sons