I went to the Nichols banquet and symposium today. For htose who don't know, the Nichol's banquet is an award given to a chemist who writes the best journal article, and they evaluate their work over the past 5 years, and it's a big deal apparently. They invite the NY area schools and so I went as one of the students representing my school. Anyway, during the social hour and afterwards when we were meeting the members who sat at the dais, a couple of them asked the typical questions, what year I am, what I plan to do, etc. But they also asked what sorts of hobbies I have. I told them I like to play piano, play tennis, ice skate... and they all picked up on the ice skating. They were so much mor intruiged by it than anything else I had to say, it seems.

Now, I have a couple of theories. Maybe because it's not very common to meet people who actually know how to skate, and so when they do, it's some sort of fascination. Or, it could eb that there is something that makes chemists attracted to ice skating. Maybe something in the DNA that makes chemists intrested in skating. Ideas?

Well, I'm a figure-skating chemist....and I know a figure skater who grew up to be a chemist.

I travel _a lot_ for work, and what I've found is that everyone is just fascinated with my skating. (It's lugging the skates everywhere and treating the suitcase like it's filled with gold.) It's more of the idea that they have never heard of an adult figure skater...or a competitive figure skater who has a "real job." (And it's not like I'm in California....try the Midwest.)

I also have played a lot of "you can't guess my age" games. Today someone guessed an age _12 years_ younger than my real age! Skating has its benefits....

Me too! I am 26 (27 in August) and regularly get 18-22 when I have people guess. Makes me so happy.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

I'm a Ph.D. chemist/journalist, and I know several other skating chemists. In grad school, people in my department always found my hobby intriguing. I think it's because a lot of those folks were so un-artsy, that I was a very strange bird in their presence. Who knows? But I found grad school so tedious and boring that I loved escaping to the rink in the middle of the day. For me, the duality of the analytical and the athletic/artsy was ideal. But maybe that just serves my bipolar self.

At work (at the American Chemical Society), coworkers find my skating very interesting as well. Most are withdrawn writers, so I must seem like a breath of fresh air.

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Yeah, it was so cool to mention that I'm in my 30's, not my teens!

The week of my 10 year HS reunion, a skatemom came up to me and asked what I school I _go_ to. She was shocked when I said that my reunion was that week!

I just wish the attention I get for being a figure skater and a chemist would translate into more dates....sigh.

I'm a figure skating chemist too! Hoping to get my D.Phil before the summer. I too spent most of my time sloping off from the lab to go skating because I used to get so bored - give me theoretical work any day! Now I'm writing up I can skate as much as I want

Oh and Sue, I'm a pianist too!

John

Well I have a Chemistry degree and I skate. I'm not actually working at the moment and havent done that much with my chemistry when I have worked - I did work in some 'mud' engineering labs in Aberdeen for a while (mud= drilling fluids that are pumped downhole in oilwells to equalise pressures - I used to use milkshake mixers to mix up the ingredients for testing! )

I took my degree at Southampton University and the town had a rink in those days but I never went as I couldnt' afford it and had no friends who were interested enough to come along with me. I so regret not trying skating then.

Anyway I've given up the chemistry now - I have worked in the computing industry and taught English when I lived in Indonesia. I'm currently doing a Design and Craft qualification and hopefully may end up teaching something along those lines. As long as it doesn't interfere with my skating!

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'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

I am a PhD chemist. Now I work as a teacher. I am an avid skater. We need a creative outlet besides lab experiments.

Kay
www.skatejournal.com

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

Mud engineering? My first job out of college was for a clay company that had drilling fluids as one of their products. (They also invented clumping cat litter.)

I've also left the lab....I now write FDA compliance paperwork as a consultant. I really, truly love it, but I've been forced to "live" in locations 40 miles from an ice rink! I'm hoping to move permantly to the city I work in....there's lots of work, and my dance partner lives there... He's a cytotechnologist, btw...

I am a fully qualified 'mud engineer' - lovely title that! Unfortunately having done the training to work offshore on the rigs, the company I worked for went bust before I could get to a rig (and there was little stalling on the part of the guy whose job it was to get me a post on a rig as he didn't think women should be on rigs at all). Never mind, the training was fun and I got to spend 3 months in Norway.

As for cat litter - well I guess mud is good for a lot of things!

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'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Another Ph.D. chemist here. I never skated in grad school and only took it up around 6 year ago. I do think it's funny that so many chemists or others with scientific degrees skate (and many post here!), and people at work seem intrigued by my skating. My lab director, who is German, is pretty psyched about me going to the adult competition in Oberstdorf.

Anyway, maybe it's partly financial... I get paid quite well and that gives me the financial means to skate a lot and have pretty much as many lessons as I want.

I do also think it's relatively unusual to find adult competitors, unless of course you frequent these boards or your local rinks, and that's why people may be especially intrigued.

Pat

This is too funny. My degree is in geology, and my job while a student and for the first year after was in a mud lab on campus (Columbia). We were determining the various properties (viscosity etc.) of mud samples. I kept the job after graduation because I was studying painting at CU with a particular professor and got free tuition. Of course, he left and I had to follow him to the Art Students League and pay full tuition there. I also worked in the computing industry. It's taken me 37 years to get around to doing what I really love.

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I work in a PR firm and nobody gives a **** about my skating! So I know for sure that it is not something that is universally intriguing to people.

My experience has been that people who are intellectual and analytical are the most interested in my skating. They are fascinated by the physics of it. God bless 'em.

I work in the computer field. The guys usually have NO INTEREST in figure skating!!! I do have a couple of notable exception. In fact I was a skating buddy to one of the developers and he had all jumps up to a lutz. My ex-boss from my last job does have some interest in my skating, but mainly from the angle of being an athlete. (He's a fencer/Kendo guy.)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

i knew there were a lot of skating chemists on the board from other discussions, I just figured, you know, that only people who skate would be interested, and so it's not exactly a great sample. But I was really surprised that other non skaters were fascinated by it. Maybe there is something about an analytical mind that makes them like skating? Or maybe we should find out about other types of people. Are musicians or artists intrigued by skaters? How about other types of minds that I can't think of right now because my brain is fried. It would be interesting to find out if there is a certain type that tends to pick up or be interesting in skating. You know how they say a lot of lefties are good artists because they're right brain dominant and it has all the creative sectors, so maybe there is some sort of corellation.

While I have a degree in Finance, most of my friends who skate @ CU are in Astrophysics and varying types of physics. I have always noticed that the "hard" sciences are well represented in the sport. It is very interesting, and I learn a lot about stuff I didn't get as a kid.

la

Yes, but most of them can't afford it! They're not called "starvin' artists" for nuttin, 'ya know! (Yeap! I was a musician in a former life.)

Dunno, I'm right hand dominant, but have left-hand tendecies! (I'm artistic and I spin/jump CW!) Go figure!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Over the years, I have known several professional musicians (some quite accomplished!) who skate. Yesterday, I met a professional studio artist who is a beginning adult skater.

Kay

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

That's a funny coincidence, actually, cause I had a friend in high school who was really into skating as well, and took beginning classes with me. She goes to Caltech now and the workload has put her behind the skating news, but she still likes watching it. She's a chemical engineering major. So is/was Jeff Buttle, actually.

I'm a biology major/art minor, and I love to skate. Always need more time in doing it, but with the art classes and labs (and no car) it's always a hassle. I also play the piano, and my musical skills in that far exceed my technical, LOL.

Another friend from HS who's more advanced than I am (went to collegiate nationals with her team) is an art major, so that stuff does happen too.

Yesterday while at the rink I met a beginning skater who went to see Nationals AND had a friend who taught chemistry at a nearby science/engineering college. No word on whether that friend also likes skating, but there's another connection for ya!

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"The ice is finer when the zombie goes over it!" - said by an excited 5-year-old at the rink

"The life you've led is in fact not the totality of what is possible for you." - John Partridge of Wheaton College (and a Matrix philosopher )