By Lindsay Miles
Dr. Diana Gabaldon has not had the typical career of a woman in science. She started her career as an ecologist, earning a BS, MS, and PhD in biological sciences with a broad interest in ecology. She had the standard academia track, 2 post-docs followed by an associate professor position at Arizona State University, teaching environmental science.
While at ASU, she saw a need for computation in biology, so she decided to fill the need herself. She became an expert in science computing and founded Science Software Quarterly. During this time, she was writing manuals and tutorials in plain text, quite uncommon for computing and software manuals, however, this made the computer software broadly accessible to more than just computer science professionals.
While still teaching at ASU and writing computer manuals, she decided to learn how to write a novel just for fun. Given her background in research and her already proven ability to learn new skills when a need arose, she was quite successful in this endeavor. She wrote the first novel in the Outlander series, a fiction novel that fits into historical fiction, fantasy, romance, and several other categories. This led to major success, as many readers of various genres could enjoy her writing.
Gabaldon quit the academia track of her career to pursue her writing ambitions. She wrote 8 novels in the Outlander series, as well as a number of other novels and short stories. She has since become a New York Times Best-Selling author and the Outlander series has been turned into a television series.
While Dr. Gabaldon did not continue her career as a woman in ecology, she has proven to be an inspiration nonetheless for women in science. She has had the drive and ambition to become an expert in more than one field. She was able to utilize the skills she learned as a scientist and apply them to be a success in other fields.
Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series
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