Living History: Shirley HF Lee

My defining moment at Trinity

As a Natural Sciences Tripos or “NatSci” student at Trinity, my defining moment happened in one of the Year 1 modules: Evolution and Behaviour. It was through the module that I realised the importance of curiosity and being observant – traits that had resulted in Charles Darwin’s observations in the Galapagos island, and that subsequently contributed to his Theory of Natural Selection.

I also discovered that the deeper I sought to understand things, the more questions appeared and that these questions might eventually lead to great scientific discoveries. Prior to my time at Trinity, I had not been exposed to and could not grasp the idea of “research”. Once at the College, I realized that a paragraph from a science textbook might well have arisen from years of dedicated observations and research findings!

Being in a highly academic environment and learning from experts at Cambridge also made me realize that education can transform lives and is the most precious gift to and for anyone. This brings me back to the moment I left the interview room (as part of the admissions process) in tears thinking I had performed poorly. Thank you Trinity, for the opportunity to experience life in Cambridge.

Shirley HF Lee matriculated in 2005. She studied Natural Sciences and went onto to do a PhD in Medical Genetics, 2010-2014.