Triggered by death of child – Journey of self-discovery for renowned scientist/author

Chestnut Hill Local | J.B. Hyppolite
Rosalyn Wiggins Berne, who graduated from Greene Street Friends School in 1969, is an ethicist, futurist, author, professor and innovator. (Photo by Kaya Berne)
Rosalyn Wiggins Berne, 55, is surely one of the graduates of Greene Street Friends School of whom the schools is most proud. Now a science professor at the University of Virginia, she is also the author of “Nanotalk: Conversation with Scientists and Engineers about Ethics, Meaning and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology” as well as the novel, “Waiting in the Silence.”

For “Nanotalk” Berne, who has a doctorate degree in bioethics, interviewed 35 scientists over the course of five years. Berne’s study of bioethics began with a tragedy following a dream she had when she was 38 weeks pregnant. The outcome has led her on a journey of science and self-discovery that continues to this day.

“It’s been 27 years since I had that dream,” she told us in an interview last month. “I don’t remember any details. Even then, I am not sure how much I remembered when I awoke in the morning. What I remember clearly, though, is opening my eyes with the clear sense that something was very wrong with my child.” Rosalyn went to her obstetrician the same day, but by the end of the day her child, Zoe, was diagnosed with an anencephalic condition (being without a brain). Her birth was induced a few weeks later, but the newborn died after three days.
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