My mom used to be a biologist, before quitting and having two wonderful children (namely, my sister and me.) She did a lot of lab work, as that’s pretty much what biologists do, and she mostly worked with cellular structures (thus, cellular biology).
This was not the shocking revelation.
My mother also, at one point, did some work in NIH labs, as she’d made some connections in grad school. After a short stint teaching (where, btw, she taught a now-famous boxer whose name I forget), she went back into research, around the DC area.
This also was not the shocking revelation.
The other day, she was telling me some tale about her research days, which I was half-listening to (the other half of me was sleeping, as it was Saturday morning.) A name came up.
This was not the shocking revelation, but I’m getting there.
In health class, we’re watching And the Band Played On, a made-for-TV movie about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Today, the French just identified AIDS as a virus. There was a scene where a not-so-nice American scientist was on the phone with a kind-hearted French scientist, and through some transparent ‘bad-guy-ness’, got the French to send him their specimens. This American researchers name was Dr. Bob Gallo.
This was the first part of the shocking revelation.
Then my little brain started thinking. I’ve heard that name before…where have I heard that…Bob Gallo…Oh dear sweet lord!
During the mid-to-late 70’s, my mother worked for none other than a Dr. Bob Gallo, which for some reason, creeps me out. My mommy worked for the man who (allegedly) stole the AIDS virus? :eek: That changes the world in a barely-perceptable way!
Yeah, it doesn’t really, but I just thought I’d share.
