Dr. David Klatzow - Forensic Scientist🙌
For justice to prevail, the application of maths, physics, pathology and chemistry needs to be applied. Methodically and meticulously, evidence must be analysed for the truth to be told. As a leading Forensic Scientist in South Africa, David Klatzow reveals his honest truth with us here:
My Definition Of Success:
“Success means to me, the acquisition of knowledge, to be used to assist your fellow man, to make everybody’s life a little easier. This has always been my idea of success. It has always been my idea that one should become as proficient in your chosen field of study as possible and that your acquisition of knowledge should be eclectic and should never cease.”
I Am Driven By:
“The thing that drives me is an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I enjoy obtaining knowledge about almost everything in my field and often it is slightly peripheral to my field but it is surprising how often that becomes quite useful in dealing with a case from a slightly different angle.”
My Highlights:
“The highlights of my life and career that make me proud are the fact that during the 1980’s I was the sole forensic scientist speaking out against the police atrocities against the citizens of this country. There was round detraction of my work by the state, the government, the magistrates and by the prosecutors. When the TRC came along it became apparent that my evidence was correct at the time and many of the perpetrators came forward to admit to the crimes which I had identified them as having committed.”
The Difference Between Good And Great:
“The difference between people who are good at what they do and people who are great at what they do is passion. You have to be able to make your career part of your life, part of your entertainment; it must be your hobby as well as your career and if you can do that you will a) enjoy it, it will be one long entertainment session for you and b) you will get better and better at it because you do not object to spending time improving at it. If you are doing a mere job, you begrudge the time that you spending working rather than enjoying that time and making better use of it.”
A Key Talent:
“The talent that I have which I think has been most useful to me is to see an overview of a particular problem and to be able to work out the step to solve it. Often people can see detail without seeing the overall pattern and quite often it is that ability to see the overall pattern in the long term which enables you to plot the way forward. This is difficult to explain how to do because it is something you either see or you do not. People who look at a painting will often see only the detail, others will see the entire picture. I think my great fortune and good luck was to be able to see a big chunk of the painting as a whole and then to be able to focus in on the techniques that enabled you to produce that and to understand how the case can be brought forward.”
The Characteristics Of Success:
“I am not sure what are the key characteristics but certainly determination, doggedness, curiosity, persistence, a thick skin, a willingness to admit that I am wrong when I am wrong and a commitment to the truth are all things that have made it possible for me to survive in this highly competitive and destructive field for now 32 years.”
Principles I Live By:
“The principles and values that I believe are important could not be better stated than those said by John Steinbeck through the mouth of Ed Ricketts in his book “Cannery Row” and that is a quote which goes as follows: “I love true things, even if they hurt.” It is important to follow the truth or to try and get as close to the truth as it is possible to get, realising that you will never get all the way there but persisting in your quest to the top of that mountain of truth.”
Critical Skills I Develop:
“The critical skills that I have used and worked on are again enshrined in the previous paragraphs that are effectively an eclectic thirst for knowledge and an ability to synthesize that knowledge, putting it all together in one coherent whole which is useful in a) understanding forensic problems, and b) allowing one to cross borders between subjects such as medicine, law, science, chemistry and physics in order to understand how they interact and are able to make a fuller use of the subject by virtue of that ability.”
