Barcamp 11 3 rd December 2016 Luck + Curiosity Nobel Prizes (And Singapore?)
Barcamp 113rd December 2016
Luck + Curiosity Nobel Prizes (And Singapore?)
The Nobel Prizes
Sometimes NatureSurprises Us
Launches a New Field
PhysicsChemistry
Physiology or Medicine
PeaceLiterature
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in
Memory of Alfred
Very Smart PeopleHard Work
One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928,
I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by
discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer.
Nobel Speech: "Nature makes penicillin. I just discovered it."
His Messy Lab Penicillin : Fleming, Physiology or Medicine 1945
a brilliant researcher,
but his laboratory was often untidy
When Chain heard that he was coming, he remarked,
"Good God! I thought he was dead."
Ernst Chain Howard Florey
Oxford University1st –ever
Honorary Doctorate in Medicine Awarded to a Non-Medical Person
Norman Heatley
Ernst Chain & Howard Florey: Co-Winners with Fleming
Purify &
Mass ProducePenicillin
Lucky Stroke 1: Once - by mistake - a thousand-fold too much catalyst was added. To Shirakawa's surprise, this time a beautiful silvery film appeared.
Lucky Stroke 2:the story could have come to a sudden end, had not Shirakawa and MacDiarmid happened to meet, accidentally, during a coffee-break.
A 1000X Mistake Led to Conductive Polymers MacDiarmid + Heeger + Shirakawa: Chemistry 2000
If You Want to Screw Up, let’s Really Screw Up
How MacDiarmid, a Kiwi, celebrated the Nobel Prize
Heeger: A Risk-Taker
“One must cherish creativity,” Heeger said. “One should be bold, audacious. Seek to discover. Go into a new area, into the unknown and look for something new. The excitement of that risk is part of the thrill of a life in science.”
Any creative endeavor involves taking risks. You must not lose your nerve or you won’t hit the high C. You must not lose your nerve or you won’t be able to write the next book. Whether it’s science or music or literature or anything, creative endeavors involve risk.
Heeger: A Risk-Taker Who Never Lost His Nerve
Supplemental Information
Double Laureates – 2 Nobel Prizes for the Same Person
Pauling Had the Opportunity
to Win a3rd Nobel Prize
Watson & CrickPhysiology or Medicine 1962
Watson’s Rules: 1. Avoid Dumb People.
2. Look for the Most Interesting Person3. If you are the smartest person in the room,
you are in the wrong room
Maurice Wilkins
Watson & Crick: Physiology or Medicine 1962 Who was the 3rd person?
Frederick Sanger – Chemistry ‘58 & ‘80
http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/nobel_by_year.html
MIT 24 Consecutive Years (1993 - 2016) of Nobel Prizes
Length Breadth
ChemistryPhysics
Medicine/PhysiologyPeace
Economic Sciences
Literature