By Istvan Hargittai, Carl Djerassi
What motivates these few scientists who upward push above their friends to accomplish leap forward discoveries? This publication examines the careers of fifteen eminent scientists who completed the most outstanding discoveries of the previous century, offering an insider’s viewpoint at the historical past of 20th century technological know-how according to those attractive character profiles. They include:
• Dan Shechtman, the 2011 Nobel laureate and discoverer of quasicrystals;
• James D. Watson, the Nobel laureate and codiscoverer of the double helix constitution of DNA;
• Linus Pauling, the Nobel laureate remembered such a lot for his paintings at the constitution of proteins;
• Edward Teller, an incredible of the 20 th century who entire breakthroughs in figuring out of nuclear fusion;
• George Gamow, a pioneering scientist who devised the at first ridiculed and now authorized mammoth Bang.
In every one case, the writer has exposed a novel character attribute, motivational issue, or situation that, as well as their outstanding force and interest, led those scientists to make extraordinary contributions. for instance, Gertrude B. Elion, who found medicinal drugs that stored thousands of lives, used to be inspired to discover new medicines after the deaths of her grandfather and later her fiancé. F. Sherwood Rowland, who stumbled upon the environmental damage brought on by chlorofluorocarbons, finally felt an ethical vital to turn into an environmental activist. Rosalyn Yalow, the codiscoverer of the radioimmunoassay consistently felt she needed to end up herself within the face of prejudice opposed to her as a lady.
These and lots of extra attention-grabbing revelations make this a must-read for everybody who desires to be aware of what features and conditions give a contribution to a person’s turning into the scientist who makes the large leap forward.
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Additional info for Drive and Curiosity: What Fuels the Passion for Science
Example text
Avoid dumb people. 2. Be prepared to get into deep trouble. 3. Be sure you always have someone up your sleeve who will save you when you find yourself in deep s-. 4. Never do anything that bores you. 5. Expose your ideas to informed criticism. 6. 21 When I lecture about Watson in my course on the great discoveries in the twentieth century, I tell my students what would happen if Watson opened the door to our auditorium and looked for a place to sit down: He would look around searchingly and would sit next to the person in the audience whom he perceived to be the most interesting.
This was perfectly normal and constituted a brilliant example of how the next discovery builds on previous discoveries, utilizing published data and techniques. Watson and Crick needed “only” to put together all the relevant information after they had performed the most crucial act of posing the right questions. Theirs was an unusual but very efficient approach to research at that time: using other people's measurements, techniques, experimental results, and conclusions. 17 Watson and Crick's working style appeared unorthodox to many.
It certainly was not sheer luck, because it was his decision about what to do and where to continue his career when he faced competing options. But circumstances, too, favored what he decided doing. ”8 It was less through his background at home than the environments he eventually found himself in and utilized that made him privileged. Watson came from a nonpracticing Christian family with mostly Irish and Scottish roots. His family lived on the south side of Chicago in a neighborhood that was not very well-to-do, but it was not impoverished either.