Wonder all around us
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ”
As much as we find our own paths, our callings beckon us. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to meet and build a diverse community of individuals around the world. I am quite grateful to have the chance to know them, learn about and with them, collaborate and work towards better. For some time now, I have wanted to share their remarkable and inspirational stories. I also wanted to share the wide ranging topics and objectives that brought us together and helped me develop the core of how I view and include diversity in my life.
So many of the people who impact our lives undertake their work in relative obscurity. We will not know their names, their faces or their contributions to our lives and society. The world is full of the unnamed or relatively unknown, so join me as I “navigate’ through the lessons, advice and knowledge of this diverse network of experts built around improving how we take care of the world upon which we live.
I am fortunate to have grown up with many scientists and travelers who encouraged me from the beginning. My uncle, in particular, was a huge inspiration. He was one of the few people who understood why I was drawn to a PhD and how it was who I am, rather than a “career.” I launched this podcast as an excuse to interview him.
My uncle, Dr. Pravin Mehta, an aeronautical engineer, had a wildly successful career despite spending most of it behind the scenes. He worked on many major telescopes and published extensively. Few people outside his field would have heard of him or understood his work, yet we have all benefited from his efforts. Sadly, weeks before I was about to meet him for our interview in 2019, he passed away. I did not have the chance to share this idea or speak with him. I was initially going to call this series “Obscure No More”, to capture the many who work behind the scenes, but that neglected to recognize the joy and curiosity inspired by people like my uncle. “Open Rivers Navigator” is dedicated to him.
