MY ROAD TO "THE WORLD OF SCIENCE"

This summer,
I took part in the summer camp of "Souzousei-no-Ikuseijuku" near Mt.Fuji.  I was selected from among a lot of second-year students of junior high schools in Japan. Famous scientists gave lectures to us for 8 days.  One of them is Dr.Noyori Ryouji.  He is a great chemist, and he was received Nobel prize in 2001.  I could have a great and special time with other wonderful 40 students.
I was very excited by many scientists.  I thought about the creative activity.  I am very interested in space and earth science, so Dr.Murayama Hitoshi's lecture was the most wonderful to me.  He turned my knowledge of space upside down.　He gave us autographed his book as a present.  I was very happy but I had read the same book before.
Mr.Suzuki Kan had a great influence to me, about "conscience of science".  He was the former Senior Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.  He said to us, "For science, we have to think much about bottle neck, merit, cost, and risk".  I agreed with his thinking.  Because I can use his thinking when I study geology and palaeontology.
I study a “fossil dolphin”.  It was recovered from Ichijuku formation in Chiba.  It is as large as my hand.  I know that it is a piece of head bones, and this dolphin lived 700 thousand years ago.

Now, I am studying environment when this dolphin lived.  The microfossils teach to me.  They are very small about 1mm.  I found these in the sand with my microscope.  I could find 62 microfossils.  I wonder that these small fossils teach environment when this dolphin lived.  Because a dolphin is 2000 times as large as microfossils.  I’m going to study more.
In this camp, some scientists said to us, "In the future, science won't have a borderline. We will have to look at the world of science with wide-open eyes.
I would like to study and understand their thinking, and I hope to work on wonders still to be discovered.

Okamura Taro