Vicky McMillan remembers always wanting to study insects. She tells the story from her childhood that helped plot the course of study that has led to her life's work. One late afternoon she found herself in a feeding swarm of dragonflies. It seemed like a miracle, with dragonflies of every size and color. I've always felt they were beautiful.
Aesthetics play a major role in the allure of the dragonfly.
Not unlike most scientific conferences, the real heart of the congress was the paper sessions, but odonatologists aren't entirely objective. These people study dragonflies partly because they love the way they look and move. White, a biochemistry professor at the University of Delaware, was one of the 85 participants attending the congress and, like many of the others, he was not only gathering information but collecting specimens, too. With his net poised close to the water's edge, he snared insects and labeled his catch. It's the lure of finding something interesting.