luck + curiosity = nobel prizes

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