Vladimir Nabokov: Lifelong IPian

Polyommatus blue, pictured above.  Image located at nytimes.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the photo above.

A Russian author who published works in English, Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) has received international recognition for texts such as Lolita, Pale Fire, and Speak, Memory:  An Autobiography Revisited.  He is respected even today for a beautifully precise diction and his post-modern considerations of literature and art.  He recently garnered attention, however, also as a lepidopterist (one who studies butterflies).  Having developed an extensive collection of butterflies, taken many butterfly excursions, and served as the curator for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, he was fascinated with a particular specimen:  the Polyommatus Blue.  He was so enthralled that he not only peppered his stories with vague descriptions of "blue" but also proposed an evolutionary theory concerning the species:  a series of migrations to the New World from Asia over millions of years.

Nabokov was primarily invested in literature during his life, so the scientific community did not take him seriously.  At first.  As hinted earlier, the The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London was recently shocked to learn that Nabokov's theory on the Polyommatus Blue is absolutely correct.  And the kicker? He was self-taught.  As a New York Times article explains, a teenage "Nabokov went on butterfly-hunting expeditions and carefully described the specimens he caught, imitating the scientific journals he read in his spare time."  What began as a hobby and informal explorations led to a lifelong passion and scientific acclaim.

Let us remember Nabokov, then, by cheering on our own "self-taught" IPians.  After all, what begins as a topic of choice may become something truly earth-shattering in the future.

Vladimir Nabokov, pictured above.  Image located at nytimes.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the photo above.