Sarah Unger

Essay 1
3/28/15
Rendezvous with Rama was a very intriguing book and in my opinion the best one we
have had to read all semester. I overall enjoyed the book and truly finished it in one sitting. I
would also like to note before I get into the meaty part of the paper that I left my copy of the
book in Florida so I purchased the book for Kindle and it gives me locations rather than page
numbers so I will site the location and the chapter because of this.
There are many very intriguing characters in Rendezvous with Rama and trying to pick
one in which to analyze was almost a challenge. After looking at it the character which I have
decided to look at was Endeavors Surgeon Commander Laura Ernst. Laura Ernst plays an
important role in the book. Without Laura Ernst the exploration of Rama would have taken
longer and without her in a scientific role much of the science of Rama would have been
overlooked.
Soon after the Endeavor landed on Rama and soon after Norton unsealed the airlocks,
decent into the body of Rama was attempted. Before decent for the majority of the crew
occurred they needed to be cleared physically and the person to do that was Laura Ernst. In the
book she has a conversation with Norton Ive checked our mountaineer, and heres my verdict.
Karl and Joe are in good shape-all indications normal for the work theyve done. But will shows
signs of exhaustion and body loss. I wont bother you with the details. I dont believe hes been
getting all the exercise he should, and hes not the only one. Theres been some cheating in the
centrifuge; if theres any more, heads will roll. Please pass the word (768. Chapter 11). Without

her being there to clear the people and to better enforce the exercise policy there would never
have been an exploration due to people being not in shape enough to descend. She not only
clears people but also adds a different routine to prepare them for the surface of Rama.
Not only was Laura Ernst the ships Surgeon Commander she also did much of the onsite
science while investigating Rama. She looked at and analyzed samples that came from Rama.
After collecting a sample of ice from the Cylindrical Sea Laura analyzes the data and tells
Norton, who later tells his wives Dr. Ernst says its a dilute organic soup, containing traces of
almost any carbon compound you care to name, as well as phosphates and nitrates and dozens of
metallic salts. Theres not the slightest sign of life-not even any dead microorganisms. So we still
known nothing about the biochemistry of the Ramans-though it was probably not wildly differ
from ours(1208, Chapter 16). Without Dr. Ernsts scientific analyzing of the samples, much of
the knowledge would have been unattainable. She looks into the data and passes it along. This
data help Norton make decisions and helps when it comes to further exploration. It also allows
them to learn more about what they are dealing with or what once may have been on Rama.
Along with analyzing the samples she also took Laura also took she also looked forward
to her opportunities to look further into the life of Rama. When the spiders appeared she was
excited and nothing would please her better, he was sure, than for one of the spiders to have an
unfortunate accident, and he would not put it past her to arrange such a thing in the interest of
science(2718, Chapter 33). Upon an unfortunate even happening and a spider falling she wanted
to get it back and examine it. As soon as she got her prize back to the Endeavor, she started to
work with her dissection kit(2718, Chapter 33). Then after dissecting it her reports are the ones
that the Committee receives. Surgeon Commander Ernst, Endeavors medical officer, has sent a
full report on the spiderlike creature she dissected. I must say at once some of her results are

baffling, and in any other circumstances I would have refused to believe them (2778, Chapter
34). Dr. Ernst dissection of the spiderlike creature allowed the explorers and the Rama
Committee to learn more about what they were experiencing as life on Rama. She was also
excited to do the research and to learn more about Rama. She showed extreme interest on in
looking at things with a scientific eye and a scientific method. Without this information she
obtained through her work the knowledge of the inner workings of these creatures may have
never come too light. Also without her unique perspective on Rama the information and
knowledge gather may have not been gathered in the first place.
Laura Ernst role not just the surgeon or the person doing the analyzing of scientific data
she was also an explorer and leader of one of the three parties exploring Rama. After the
reaching the bottom of the stairs she was assigned to lead one of the groups to head out
exploring. And so, the first party to head for the Cylindrical Sea, though it was led by the
Surgeon Commander Laura Ernst (1090, Chapter 15). By being a leader and an explorer the
exploration of Rama had a scientific mind looking at many of the challenges they faced during
this time. By being a leader of a group it allowed her to collect data on her own terms and
allowed her time to observe and use a method to come to conclusions on what Rama is like.
Without this data some of the conclusions made about Rama and some of the data would not
have been collected in the same manor.
Overall without Laura Ernst and her scientific works things that were discovered would
have gone unnoticed. Without her the crew would not have been physically fit enough to go
down into Rama and would have never had the clearance necessary to go into Rama. She was a
leader who assisted in exploring Rama and while doing so she collected samples for science and
then analyzed them. She was also pivotal in learning more about the life of Rama through the

dissection of the Spider creature that falls from the cliff. In light of all her contributions I feel it
is safe to say that without her helping with the exploration of Rama much of the knowledge
learned about Rama would never have been discovered.