BY INGRID BROWN Associate editor — special assignment browni@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, June 22, 2014
PETER Nelson's story is not different from a number of Jamaicans who have overcome adversity to achieve academically. However, not many 25-year-olds here hold a bachelor of science, an MPhil and a PhD in chemistry from the University of the West Indies (UWI).
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| Dr Peter Nelson flips through the pages of his latest publication. (then) NELSON... a lot of the persons who are really successful were not born with a gold spoon in their mouth, but what they had is a solid mentality to be successful (PHOTOS: BRYAN CUMMINGS) |
In August this year, Dr Nelson will add another landmark achievement to his name, as he will take up one of five post-doctoral fellowships at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, having been selected from 280 applicants from around the world for the
coveted position.
"It was very competitive to get into this institute because they told me they had 280 applications for the five positions and so it was really tough on them to decide, but one of the things that helped me to get in was the papers I published in international journals," Dr Nelson told the Jamaica Observer.
However, it is not only the accomplishments that this St Thomas native has amassed at such a young age that make his story unique. Rather, it is that he disproved the stereotype that a boy from an impoverished community who attended a non-traditional high school and was raised by a single mother who worked as a domestic helper would not beat the odds.
And those who may still doubt his potential upon seeing his unassuming demeanour may be further taken aback by the research work he has done, which has gained international recognition. Already he has amassed seven publications in international journals, including Journal of Molecular Structure, Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, Dalton Transactions and International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
In August 2010, he presented a paper on the Phase Behaviours of Zinc Carboxylates at an IUPAC-sponsored MAM 10 conference, and, in August 2012, he gave a presentation on the Molecular and Lattice Structures of Sodium(I) Carboxylates at the American Chemical Society Conference in Philadelphia. He has also made presentations in the Departments of Chemistry at Mona and at St Augustine in Trinidad and is currently preparing two manuscripts for submission.
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| Dr Peter Nelson shortly after graduating from the University of the West Indies with his PhD. |
Dr Nelson completed the MPhil and PhD at UWI in three-and-a-half years, although the maximum time for a full-time candidate to finish is five years and seven years for part-time.
"It was stressful, more mentally than physically, because you can't get an MPhil or PhD in science unless what you have discovered is totally new because there has to be novelty about it," he told the Sunday Observer.
"Excellence or nothing at all" is the philosophy of life that has guided this St Thomas Technical High School graduate.
"I did a lot of studies because I realised time is critical for pure and applied science students, and there is no pure and applied person who parties a lot and does well, it just doesn't happen, especially those doing chemistry as the pass rate in some of our courses is about 26 per cent, and so you want to get into that 26 per cent," he said.
Dr Nelson, who grew up in Hampton Court, St Thomas before moving to Retreat in the parish, recalled how difficult it was in a single-mother household. He attributes a lot of his success to his mother's advice not to make her labour go in vain. more
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