Another Valentine's Day passed, which for me was pretty low key (I had to teach a class until 9pm). Anyway, it kind of made me wonder what the average romantic inclinations of the scientifically minded was like. I bring this up, from the point of view, that a career in science (particularly science academia) can be pretty intense sometimes - so I'm sure that there's all sorts of great stories are out there on how challenging it is to be a scientist and maintain a relationship.
This piece ("For those about to post-doc, we salute you" by Timon Buys) is quite good at painting a picture of coupledom when both players are in the sciences:
What's really stunning is that we're nothing special. Long-distance relationships are incredibly common where two people are trying to build careers in science. One couple spends three years traversing the Australian outback, him in Melbourne, her in Perth. Another has to cross the Pacific and deal with arcane Chinese border practices to secure quality time only once a year. A third spends more than a year apart, her flipping her car on the way to Vancouver where a dream project is calling, a harbinger that maybe things won't be that easy. We've all heard the stories of people living with their heart in one city and their head and hands in another.
Anyway, is this a common sentiment? For me, it didn't seemed that bad - but admittedly, my wife is not in the sciences (she's an elementary school teacher), and as well, I've been fortunate enough to have guided my career path in such a manner to have stayed in Vancouver for the whole time.
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You might want to read the stories on
from the On Being a Scientist and a Woman blog http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/2008/02/a_tale_of_two_cities.php
for tales of 2-scientist couples. It's hard. It can be bad, but we get through.
Posted by: GMC | February 15, 2008 8:05 PM