Matt Taylor on the Rosetta mission
"We're on the cutting edge of science; science is being done. We haven't got any results yet...but just wait and hang in there. The drill's going down: this is going to be fantastic."
- Dr Matt Taylor, in an ESA video clip via BBC News
The Rosetta Project, with its gutsy plan to land a probe on a comet, has captured the world's attention this past week. Taylor, one of the key scientists on the mission, is a prime example of LabLit.com's mantra that scientists are only human. Colorful, quirky, conspicuously tattooed and roundly criticized for wearing a politically incorrect shirt in a televised press briefing, the European Space Agency researcher runs through the gamut of emotions in this short ESA video (embedded within a BBC story about the sartorial controversy). Taylor's apology is heartfelt, but skip ahead to where passionate enthusiasm for science and the mission crests over his distress like a mini-tsunami.
It certainly put a smile on our faces.