Readers of my science book, The Night Olympic Team, ask me for glimpses of the childhood of key players in the book. Here's another one.
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He grew up in the jungle, deep in the wilds of West Africa, running free with his playmates. Where he lived, way out in Liberia and far from any city, there weren't any schools.
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"My mother taught me to read and write, that was it," he recalls. I always liked reading. I read whatever was available, from books to Reader's Digest, anything that came by."
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As the son of missionaries from Sweden who built leper colonies, Swedish was his first language. He also spoke the local, African dialects with his friends, and picked up pidgin English--a regional jargon.
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Where he grew up there was no television, no radio, no newspapers. Only books. He found out about ongoing world events by reading about them in Reader's Digest two years later.
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Except for his parents, people around him looked nothing like him. They were black. "Most people around me, very nice people, whom I liked very much, were illiterate rice farmers." Considering that he's become a big shot on the international scene in his profession, he muses, "I had to have an idea at some point that perhaps I would go to school."
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He did eventually go to school, but not until age thirteen! His parents sent him to America where he went to high school in Monrovia, a suburb near Los Angeles.
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Was it hard to go to school and speak English? "I don't remember that it was," he says. "I think I probably talked a bit funny to the other kids. But people were very nice and very welcoming."
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After high school, he went to college at Harvard, then to Yale to study what he does now. He had settled in Paris, France, to practice his profession, when he became involved in The Night Olympic Team story.
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WHICH ONE OF THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE NIGHT OLYMPIC TEAM IS HE?
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In order of appearance:
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Jeff Gorzek, scientist, who tests athletes' samples for prohibited drugs?
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Don Catlin, scientist and lab director, whose team found a prohibited drug in athletes' samples? The drug was a blood-booster medicine invented to treat medical patients, not to help healthy athletes cheat by boosting their endurance!
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Steve Elliott, scientist, who invented the medicine?
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Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee?
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Jan Paulsson, lawyer?
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Zac Douglas, lawyer?
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IF YOU GUESSED JAN PAULSSON, YOU WERE RIGHT!
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As a lawyer, Jan works on cases based on science, so he needs a pretty deep understanding of the science. It is not rare for people to have noth science and law degrees.
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Jan says that going to law school leads to lots of choices of things to work on. Examples include sports, medicine, the environment, and specialties without science.
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He adds, "People who are good lawyers have it in their genes." He claims that you can observe children and predict which ones could become good lawyers. "They argue about things. They'll say, 'Oh yes, I know you told me not to eat all the cookies, but that was on a Tuesday and today's Wednesday and I didn't realize that it was every day.' You find children who naturally see the world that way." Was Jan like that as a kid? Absolutely!
.
He grew up in the jungle, deep in the wilds of West Africa, running free with his playmates. Where he lived, way out in Liberia and far from any city, there weren't any schools.
.
."My mother taught me to read and write, that was it," he recalls. I always liked reading. I read whatever was available, from books to Reader's Digest, anything that came by."
.
As the son of missionaries from Sweden who built leper colonies, Swedish was his first language. He also spoke the local, African dialects with his friends, and picked up pidgin English--a regional jargon.
.
Where he grew up there was no television, no radio, no newspapers. Only books. He found out about ongoing world events by reading about them in Reader's Digest two years later.
.
Except for his parents, people around him looked nothing like him. They were black. "Most people around me, very nice people, whom I liked very much, were illiterate rice farmers." Considering that he's become a big shot on the international scene in his profession, he muses, "I had to have an idea at some point that perhaps I would go to school."
.
He did eventually go to school, but not until age thirteen! His parents sent him to America where he went to high school in Monrovia, a suburb near Los Angeles.
.
Was it hard to go to school and speak English? "I don't remember that it was," he says. "I think I probably talked a bit funny to the other kids. But people were very nice and very welcoming."
.
After high school, he went to college at Harvard, then to Yale to study what he does now. He had settled in Paris, France, to practice his profession, when he became involved in The Night Olympic Team story.
.
WHICH ONE OF THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE NIGHT OLYMPIC TEAM IS HE?
.
In order of appearance:
.
Jeff Gorzek, scientist, who tests athletes' samples for prohibited drugs?
.
Don Catlin, scientist and lab director, whose team found a prohibited drug in athletes' samples? The drug was a blood-booster medicine invented to treat medical patients, not to help healthy athletes cheat by boosting their endurance!
.
Steve Elliott, scientist, who invented the medicine?
.
Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee?
.
Jan Paulsson, lawyer?
.
Zac Douglas, lawyer?
.
IF YOU GUESSED JAN PAULSSON, YOU WERE RIGHT!
.
As a lawyer, Jan works on cases based on science, so he needs a pretty deep understanding of the science. It is not rare for people to have noth science and law degrees.
.
Jan says that going to law school leads to lots of choices of things to work on. Examples include sports, medicine, the environment, and specialties without science.
.
He adds, "People who are good lawyers have it in their genes." He claims that you can observe children and predict which ones could become good lawyers. "They argue about things. They'll say, 'Oh yes, I know you told me not to eat all the cookies, but that was on a Tuesday and today's Wednesday and I didn't realize that it was every day.' You find children who naturally see the world that way." Was Jan like that as a kid? Absolutely!
