Last week, Stanford bioengineer Manu Prakash, PhD, inventor of the 50-cent microscope, called the Foldscope, and a $5 chemistry kit, participated in the White House's first-ever Maker Faire.
In a Q&A recently published on the White House blog, Prakash discusses what led him to become a Maker, his journey to the United States from India to pursue science and how he hopes his inventions will change the world. On the topic of how his immigrant roots influenced his interests as a Maker and entrepreneur, he says:
I recently started my own lab in the U.S. I decided to dedicate half of my time to frugal science (in the night time, I am a marine biophysicist). Because of growing up in a developing country context with very little resources, I naturally understand the scale of problems and the scale of solutions needed. But only by being in the hyperdrive mode of innovation in the U.S. do I have the tools at hand to actually tackle these challenges. So what I am as a Maker, an entrepreneur, and as an academic scientist is truly a juxtaposition/superposition of my experiences in these two countries.
Another common thread that my Indian roots taught me, which got strengthened by my experiences in the United States, is empathy. Without it, all the technological innovation in the world will not be utilized. It's humans that make this incredible machine we call society run. The current society is truly global and we need to be global scientists.
Previously: Dr. Prakash goes to Washington, Stanford microscope inventor invited to first White House Maker Faire, The pied piper of cool science tools, Music box inspires a chemistry set for kids and scientists in developing countries and Free DIY microscope kits to citizen scientists with inspiring project ideas
Photo by @PrakashLab
