--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I started out in nuclear physics. But…" description: "\"I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/890/vandana-shiva-2756_breeders_i-started-out-in-nuclear-physics-but-aft_2568132.jpg" --- # I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more… ![“I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being trained to be the first women in the fast-breeder reactor in India (and was in it when it first went critical) - I didn't feel comfortable with it…” quote by Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/890/vandana-shiva-2756_breeders_i-started-out-in-nuclear-physics-but-aft_2568132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/890/vandana-shiva-2756_breeders_i-started-out-in-nuclear-physics-but-aft_2568132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/890/vandana-shiva-2756_breeders_i-started-out-in-nuclear-physics-but-aft_2568132.jpg) > “I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being trained to be the first women in the fast-breeder reactor in India (and was in it when it first went critical) - I didn't feel comfortable with it. So I went into theoretical physics.” [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She left nuclear work after recognizing its health and environmental risks, choosing theoretical physics instead. **In simple terms:** She quit nuclear work because of its dangers. Key Takeaway Prioritize ethical alignment in career choices. Themes ethics environment career gender science Mood reflective determined Type personal inspirational When to use this quote - research labs - policy making - public advocacy - education - career transitions Key Concepts risk assessment moral responsibility women in STEM Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance personal values with professional opportunities? - What alternatives exist for scientists concerned about harmful tech? A Different Perspective Her expertise may still influence nuclear policy indirectly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Breeders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breeders/) [Comfortable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comfortable/) [Critical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical/) [Environmental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environmental/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Implications](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/implications/) [Implications Nuclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/implications-nuclear-1667040/) [India](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/india/) [Nuclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuclear/) [Nuclear physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuclear-physics/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Physics Sensitized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics-sensitized-1667041/) [Started Nuclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/started-nuclear-1667038/) [Theoretical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theoretical/) [Theoretical physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theoretical-physics/) [Went Theoretical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/went-theoretical-1667039/) ## Related quotes > [I started the nuclear medicine laboratory at UW Hospitals in 1959 and trained radiology residents in the field. 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He tried growing them for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjay-rawal/my-dad-was-a-breeder-most-of-his-work-happened-in-little-test-plots/) [Sanjay Rawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjay-rawal/) > [The breeding of shepherd dogs is the breeding of working dogs; and this must always be the aim, or we shall cease to produce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-von-stephanitz/the-breeding-of-shepherd-dogs-is-the-breeding-of-working-dogs-and/) [Max von Stephanitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-von-stephanitz/) > [Technological change is discontinuous. The monks in their scriptoria did not invent the printing press, horse breeders did not invent the motorcar, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-epstein/technological-change-is-discontinuous-the-monks-in-their-scriptoria-2/) [Jason Epstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-epstein/) > [Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/time-is-the-nurse-and-breeder-of-all-good/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Record companies are like cat breeders who find a breed they can make some money off of, in-breed it until it's sickly and dying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-penn/record-companies-are-like-cat-breeders-who-find-a-breed-they-can-make/) [Michael Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-penn/) > [Whiteness is the color of death, you know, not black. Wetness is life, the breeder and shaper of life. In the beginning the sun…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carroll/whiteness-is-the-color-of-death-you-know-not-black-wetness-is-life/) [Jim Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carroll/) > [I get a lot from great '90s artists like Juliana Hatfield, The Pixies, and bands like That Dog and The Breeders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/i-get-a-lot-from-great-90s-artists-like-juliana-hatfield-the-pixies/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [You could miss someone, but it did no good to fixate on loss. I wished I had the ready words of a Breeder or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-aguirre/you-could-miss-someone-but-it-did-no-good-to-fixate-on-loss-i-wished/) [Ann Aguirre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-aguirre/) > [You are the Master of your own Destiny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sivananda/you-are-the-master-of-your-own-destiny/) [Sivananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sivananda/) > [Plutonium is so hazardous that if you had a fully developed nuclear economy with breeder reactors fueled with plutonium, and you managed to contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gofman/plutonium-is-so-hazardous-that-if-you-had-a-fully-developed-nuclear/) [John Gofman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gofman/) > [Heredity is to-day the central problem of biology. This problem may be approached from many sides-that of the breeder, the experimenter, the statistician, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-conklin/heredity-is-to-day-the-central-problem-of-biology-this-problem-may-be/) [Edwin Conklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-conklin/) > [Throughout the late '80s, me and a handful of friends just like you people here, we started to break windows, we started to slash…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-coronado/throughout-the-late-80s-me-and-a-handful-of-friends-just-like-you/) [Rod Coronado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-coronado/) > [I elbowed my way into the grubby café, bought a pie that tasted of shoe polish and a pot of tea with cork crumbs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/i-elbowed-my-way-into-the-grubby-caf-bought-a-pie-that-tasted-of-shoe/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) ## More by Vandana Shiva > [We share this planet, our home, with millions of species. Justice and sustainability both demand that we do not use more resources than we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/we-share-this-planet-our-home-with-millions-of-species-justice-and/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The enclosure of the biological and intellectual commons in this way is a real threat to the future of people everywhere because it creates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-enclosure-of-the-biological-and-intellectual-commons-in-this-way/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Ecofeminism is a good term for distinguishing a feminism that is ecological from the kind of feminisms that have become extremely technocratic. I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/ecofeminism-is-a-good-term-for-distinguishing-a-feminism-that-is/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [In the seed and the soil, we find the answers to every one of the crises we face. The crises of violence and war.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/in-the-seed-and-the-soil-we-find-the-answers-to-every-one-of-the/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [We could replace people with fossil fuels, have higher and higher levels of industrialization, of agriculture, of production, without thinking of the green-house gases…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/we-could-replace-people-with-fossil-fuels-have-higher-and-higher/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Nobody defines it as something women shouldn't be doing. In a way, there are more mathematicians, more doctors, more scientists in India than there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/nobody-defines-it-as-something-women-shouldn-t-be-doing-in-a-way/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Because of these new car models there is suddenly on the streets of Delhi a new intolerance by the motorists for both the cows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/because-of-these-new-car-models-there-is-suddenly-on-the-streets-of/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Diversity creates harmony, and harmony creates beauty, balance, bounty and peace in nature and society, in agriculture and culture, in science and in politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/diversity-creates-harmony-and-harmony-creates-beauty-balance-bounty/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [For us, not cooperating in the monopoly regimes of intellectual property rights and patents and biodiversity - saying "no" to patents on life, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/for-us-not-cooperating-in-the-monopoly-regimes-of-intellectual/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [I describe what is happening as 'food fascism' because this system can only survive through totalitarian control. With patents on seed, an illegitimate legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/i-describe-what-is-happening-as-food-fascism-because-this-system-can/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [My mother was a tremendous woman. I was just cleaning up old trunks and I found a book with her notes written during the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/my-mother-was-a-tremendous-woman-i-was-just-cleaning-up-old-trunks/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Patriarchy is based on appropriating rights and leaving responsibility to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/patriarchy-is-based-on-appropriating-rights-and-leaving/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The poorest of families, the poorest of children, are subsidizing the growth of the largest agribusinesses in the world. I think it’s time we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-poorest-of-families-the-poorest-of-children-are-subsidizing-the/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [Water must be free for sustenance needs. Since nature gives water to us free of cost, buying and selling it for profit violates our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/water-must-be-free-for-sustenance-needs-since-nature-gives-water-to/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) > [The abuse of the Earth is the ecological crisis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vandana-shiva/the-abuse-of-the-earth-is-the-ecological-crisis/) [Vandana Shiva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) [Explore all 151 Vandana Shiva quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vandana-shiva/) ## More Breeders quotes > [I elbowed my way into the grubby café, bought a pie that tasted of shoe polish and a pot of tea with cork crumbs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/i-elbowed-my-way-into-the-grubby-caf-bought-a-pie-that-tasted-of-shoe/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [Throughout the late '80s, me and a handful of friends just like you people here, we started to break windows, we started to slash…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-coronado/throughout-the-late-80s-me-and-a-handful-of-friends-just-like-you/) [Rod Coronado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-coronado/) > [Heredity is to-day the central problem of biology. This problem may be approached from many sides-that of the breeder, the experimenter, the statistician, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-conklin/heredity-is-to-day-the-central-problem-of-biology-this-problem-may-be/) [Edwin Conklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-conklin/) > [Plutonium is so hazardous that if you had a fully developed nuclear economy with breeder reactors fueled with plutonium, and you managed to contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gofman/plutonium-is-so-hazardous-that-if-you-had-a-fully-developed-nuclear/) [John Gofman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gofman/) > [You are the Master of your own Destiny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sivananda/you-are-the-master-of-your-own-destiny/) [Sivananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sivananda/) > [You could miss someone, but it did no good to fixate on loss. I wished I had the ready words of a Breeder or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-aguirre/you-could-miss-someone-but-it-did-no-good-to-fixate-on-loss-i-wished/) [Ann Aguirre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-aguirre/) > [I get a lot from great '90s artists like Juliana Hatfield, The Pixies, and bands like That Dog and The Breeders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/i-get-a-lot-from-great-90s-artists-like-juliana-hatfield-the-pixies/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [Whiteness is the color of death, you know, not black. Wetness is life, the breeder and shaper of life. In the beginning the sun…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carroll/whiteness-is-the-color-of-death-you-know-not-black-wetness-is-life/) [Jim Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carroll/) > [Record companies are like cat breeders who find a breed they can make some money off of, in-breed it until it's sickly and dying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-penn/record-companies-are-like-cat-breeders-who-find-a-breed-they-can-make/) [Michael Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-penn/) > [Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/time-is-the-nurse-and-breeder-of-all-good/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Technological change is discontinuous. The monks in their scriptoria did not invent the printing press, horse breeders did not invent the motorcar, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-epstein/technological-change-is-discontinuous-the-monks-in-their-scriptoria-2/) [Jason Epstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-epstein/) > [The breeding of shepherd dogs is the breeding of working dogs; and this must always be the aim, or we shall cease to produce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-von-stephanitz/the-breeding-of-shepherd-dogs-is-the-breeding-of-working-dogs-and/) [Max von Stephanitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-von-stephanitz/) > [My dad was a breeder. Most of his work happened in little test plots and didn't require much labor. He tried growing them for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjay-rawal/my-dad-was-a-breeder-most-of-his-work-happened-in-little-test-plots/) [Sanjay Rawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjay-rawal/) > [The real breeders of discontent and alien doctrines of government and philosophies subversive of good citizenship are such as these who take the law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-l-lewis/the-real-breeders-of-discontent-and-alien-doctrines-of-government-and/) [John L. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-l-lewis/) > [Prosperity is the surest breeder of insolence I know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/prosperity-is-the-surest-breeder-of-insolence-i-know/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Browse all 27 Breeders quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breeders/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being trained to be the first women in the fast-breeder reactor in India (and was in it when it first went critical) - I didn't feel comfortable with it. 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