Sapolsky Visits Campus

Picture from Indiana University

Last Monday, Robert Sapolsky made his visit to campus.

Who is Sapolsky? He is a primatologist who has spent over 30 years in Africa studying baboons. Sapolsky is also the author of A Primate's Memoir, the common summer reading for first-years. He arrived early on Monday and gave a presentation to the first-years. It was then my job to take him over to the Clark Alumni House, where he had a little bit of down time, before he spoke to a class.

I didn't see Sapolsky again until Monday night when he spoke to a fairly large crowd in Sinclair Auditorium. I was there not only because I wanted to hear him speak, but also with my journalism class. One of my assignments was to write a news article about his visit. It was nice that I had the inside scoop.

The talk was entertaining; Sapolsky got the audience laughing. He was joined up on stage with John Chaimov, our professor of foreign language, who conducted an interview. John loved A Primate's Memoir and was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak to him, even if it was on stage with people in the audience.

What I loved about the talk was how passionate Sapolsky was about his research. You could so clearly see he loved his baboons and the work he has done. He described his discovery of primates as "imprinting" and that he "just wanted to live in a museum diorama." He was definitely inspiring; I hope that someday I'm doing what I love and can share my experiences with others.

After the talk, Sapolsky was out in the lobby signing books. I had brought my copy of A Primate's Memoir along and got it signed. Paging through my copy, I saw all my notes and annotations I had made. It was sort of a bittersweet moment knowing I was finished with A Primate's Memoir but it was nice to meet the author of the book I read on the committee, selected for first-years, and created a study guide for.