Science on the Spectrum with Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin

Illustration by Jasmine Hortop.

I discovered Lisa while reading a book not penned by her - Phosphorescence by Julia Baird. In the book, Julia is faced with a life threatening illness, and goes on a journey to cultivate ‘inner light’ which sees her, amongst many other things, meeting up with jellyfish and fluorescence expert Dr Gershwin. She tells a very brief summary of Dr Gershwin’s life - her incredible accolade of identifying over 200 species of jellyfish, her experience with homelessness, and her adulthood autism diagnosis.

I remember putting the book down for a moment and thinking what an incredible story Lisa seemed to have, so I looked her up online and discovered that this story was barely scratching the surface. I bought Lisa’s first book, Stung, and learned so much about jellyfish and their role within their ecosystem that I discovered a newfound appreciation for them, and an understanding about why someone would dedicate so much of their career researching them. I decided to reach out to her to see if she would be a guest on Earth to Humans and, to my delight, she said yes!

Cut to six month’s worth of emails later - she is based in Tasmania, Australia and I am based in Scotland, which made scheduling tricky - we finally found the time to chat. I could’ve spoken to Lisa forever. We explored her amazing journey from high school dropout to finishing her second phd, and how receiving an aspergers diagnosis made everything suddenly make sense for her.

Lisa is a truly open book, and speaking to someone who is so honest about their experiences with neurodiversity, depression and finding their ‘ert’ left me feeling like the world would be a much better place if we all lived with such unapologetic authenticity. I have so much admiration for this amazing woman, I’m so excited to share this episode.