A
102-year-old scientist has won a battle to keep working on campus at an
Australian university, showing that you are not too old to work if you want to.
Dr David
Goodall was ordered to work from home next year after his presence at Western
Australia's Edith Cowan University was deemed a safety risk. However, the
university has now found an alternative workspace.
Australia's oldest working
scientist, Dr Goodall has produced more than 100 research papers in an ecology
career spanning 70 years.
He is currently an unpaid
honorary research associate. After two decades at Edith Cowan University, Dr
Goodall was told in August 2016 to leave his office when staff raised concerns
about his safety.
It was another setback for
the ecologist, who was recently forced to give up theatre when his declining
vision prevented him from driving to rehearsals.
Fortunately for Dr Goodall, the
university found "better" office space at a campus closer to his home.
"I am pleased we have found a solution that will ensure David can continue
to be based at ECU," vice-chancellor Steve Chapman told the BBC.
Dr Goodall said he was
grateful the university was able to accommodate him. "I hope to continue
with some useful work in my field in so far as my eyesight permits," he
told the ABC. "But I still think the emphasis on safety was
unnecessary."
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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