On August 15 at 5 p.m., Dr. Mimi Gerstell will present “Perspectives on Mars” at the Stonington Public Library. She will share stories about her Caltech research on the geology and atmosphere of the red planet, and about the sociology of academic science. The anecdotes are selected from her recent book, Fish Stories by a Scientific Nobody, and updated with the latest responses to her various publications in refereed scientific journals.
In childhood Dr. Gerstell was a long-time camper at Les Chalets Francais, just south of Sunshine Road in Deer Isle, and she believes that was an essential prerequisite to her getting into Harvard. After some years as Department Head of Engineering Sciences at the Jensen Beach branch of the Florida Institute of Technology, she finished her career as a staff scientist at Caltech in Pasadena, CA. In later life, she has summered in Stonington since 1995.