Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh

Dans son autobiographie Egg & Ego, l’embryologiste Jonathan M. W. Slack raconte comment il en est venu à s’installer à Edimbourg pour sa thèse de doctorat :

I had studied biochemistry for my first degree and decided that I wanted to do a Ph.D. in something involving nucleic acids, because it was clear even then that they were the molecules of the future. I did it at Edinburgh University in Scotland. To go there had been an impulsive decision based mainly on the sight, from the Edinburgh Zoology Department, of some impressive cliffs called the Salisbury Crags in one direction and the sweeping scenery of the Braid Hills in the other. In those days, being young and revolutionary, I was unimpeded by considerations of career success and did not take much advice about where to go.

Or ces falaises, les Salisbury Crags, je les vois très bien depuis la fenêtre de mon bureau. On aurait pu rêver pire ascendance… et je comprends tout à fait ce qui fascina le jeune Slack.