Marion Dierickx, polar scientist
Dierickx is a postdoctoral fellow in experimental cosmology at Harvard, and spends two to three months a year at the Amundsen-Scott station at the south pole carrying out maintenance on her department’s telescopes.
“It’s a very unchanging environment and you can’t really go outside,” Dierickx says, “so a lot of the psychological implications are similar to what we are experiencing now. I found that in my time there I would try to control my environment more. For example, we have lab space there and I would obsessively clean it, and I am doing the same thing now, stuck in my apartment.”
Dierickx, 29, also becomes very attentive to change. “Things like plants that grow noticeably or changing the decor of your room. It’s a good way to channel energy,” she says. “Nurturing our environment can only help our psychological balance.”
Sleeping at the station is not easy – when it is the polar summer it is light 24 hours a day. “Sleep is terrible, not just because of the light, but because it’s high altitude. You’re at 3,000 metres altitude, there’s only 70% oxygen. People will routinely have nosebleeds every morning. The combination of those things makes getting rest very challenging, and that makes everything else more challenging.” She says the key is to force yourself to sleep at set times. She also recommends board games and escapist books. Avoid War and Peace, and stick to thrillers.
How does she find living in such close proximity to a small group of people? “That is one of the main challenges,” she says. “Especially if there is someone you don’t get along with. I’ve found that I have to proactively use my good side, try to repair relationships and work on my generosity. I confront people with kindness.”
極地科學家馬裡恩·迪裡剋剋斯
Dierickx是哈佛大學實驗宇宙學的博士後研究員，每年花兩到三個月的時間在南極的阿蒙森-斯科特站維護她部門的望遠鏡。
Dierickx說:“這是一個非常不變的環境，你不能真正地走出去，所以很多心理暗示與我們現在所經歷的很相似。”我發現當我在那裡的時候，我會更努力地控制我的環境。比如，我們在那裡有實驗室，我會著迷地打掃，現在我也在做同樣的事情，困在我的公寓裡。”
29歲的Dierickx也變得非常注意改變。“比如植物長得特別快，或者改變了你房間的裝飾。這是釋放能量的好方法，”她說。“培育我們的環境只能幫助我們的心理平衡。”
在車站睡覺並不容易——因為在極地的夏天，一天24小時都很輕。“睡眠很糟糕，不僅因為光線，還因為海拔高。你在海拔3000米的地方，只有70%的氧氣。人們每天早上都會流鼻血。這些因素的結合使得休息變得非常有挑戰性，而這也使得其他的事情變得更有挑戰性。她說，關鍵是要強迫自己在規定的時間睡覺。她還推薦棋盤遊戲和逃避現實的書籍。避免戰爭與和平，堅持看驚悚片。
她住在離一小群人這麼近的地方，感覺如何?“這是主要的挑戰之一，”她說。特別是當你和某人相處不好的時候。我發現，我必須積極地利用自己好的一面，努力修復關係，努力提高自己的慷慨程度。我用善良對待他人。”
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關鍵字: 羅爾德·亞孟森 2019未來科學大獎 宇宙
