0:00:01.519,0:00:04.294 What I'm going to do is to just give a few notes, 0:00:04.294,0:00:08.110 and this is from a book I'm preparing called 0:00:08.110,0:00:10.535 "Letters to a Young Scientist." 0:00:10.535,0:00:12.686 I'd thought it'd be appropriate to 0:00:12.686,0:00:17.775 present it, on the basis that I have had extensive experience 0:00:17.775,0:00:21.471 in teaching, counseling scientists across a broad array of fields. 0:00:21.471,0:00:26.870 And you might like to hear some of the principles that I've developed in doing 0:00:26.870,0:00:28.551 that teaching and counseling. 0:00:28.551,0:00:31.449 So let me begin by urging you, 0:00:31.449,0:00:33.998 particularly you on the youngsters' side, 0:00:33.998,0:00:35.974 on this path you've chosen, 0:00:35.974,0:00:37.878 to go as far as you can. 0:00:37.878,0:00:41.346 The world needs you, badly. 0:00:41.346,0:00:45.864 Humanity is now fully into the techno-scientific age. 0:00:45.864,0:00:48.343 There is going to be no turning back. 0:00:48.343,0:00:53.268 Although varying among disciplines -- say, astrophysics, 0:00:53.268,0:00:57.230 molecular genetics, the immunology, the microbiology, the public 0:00:57.230,0:01:03.424 health, to the new area of the human body as a symbiont, 0:01:03.424,0:01:05.905 to public health, environmental science. 0:01:05.905,0:01:09.021 Knowledge in medical science and science overall 0:01:09.021,0:01:12.158 is doubling every 15 to 20 years. 0:01:12.158,0:01:15.246 Technology is increasing at a comparable rate. 0:01:15.246,0:01:18.230 Between them, the two already pervade, 0:01:18.230,0:01:21.094 as most of you here seated realize, 0:01:21.094,0:01:23.479 every dimension of human life. 0:01:23.479,0:01:28.535 So swift is the velocity of the techno-scientific revolution, 0:01:28.535,0:01:33.262 so startling in its countless twists and turns, that no one can predict 0:01:33.262,0:01:37.710 its outcome even a decade from the present moment. 0:01:37.710,0:01:39.407 There will come a time, of course, 0:01:39.407,0:01:43.158 when the exponential growth of discovery and knowledge, 0:01:43.158,0:01:45.294 which actually began in the 1600s, 0:01:45.294,0:01:48.110 has to peak and level off, 0:01:48.110,0:01:49.358 but that's not going to matter to you. 0:01:49.358,0:01:50.672 The revolution is going to continue 0:01:50.672,0:01:53.630 for at least several more decades. 0:01:53.630,0:01:55.374 It'll render the human condition 0:01:55.374,0:01:57.720 radically different from what it is today. 0:01:57.720,0:02:04.038 Traditional fields of study are going to continue to grow 0:02:04.038,0:02:08.863 and in so doing, inevitably they will meet and create new disciplines. 0:02:08.863,0:02:12.710 In time, all of science will come to be 0:02:12.710,0:02:18.166 a continuum of description, an explanation of networks, of principles and laws. 0:02:18.166,0:02:21.366 That's why you need not just be training 0:02:21.366,0:02:25.806 in one specialty, but also acquire breadth in other fields, 0:02:25.806,0:02:29.494 related to and even distant from your own initial choice. 0:02:29.494,0:02:33.439 Keep your eyes lifted and your head turning. 0:02:33.439,0:02:36.504 The search for knowledge is in our genes. 0:02:36.504,0:02:40.016 It was put there by our distant ancestors 0:02:40.016,0:02:41.639 who spread across the world, 0:02:41.639,0:02:43.334 and it's never going to be quenched. 0:02:43.334,0:02:46.527 To understand and use it sanely, 0:02:46.527,0:02:50.486 as a part of the civilization yet to evolve 0:02:50.486,0:02:56.328 requires a vastly larger population of scientifically trained people like you. 0:02:56.328,0:03:00.366 In education, medicine, law, diplomacy, 0:03:00.366,0:03:04.654 government, business and the media that exist today. 0:03:04.654,0:03:09.614 Our political leaders need at least a modest degree of scientific 0:03:09.614,0:03:12.710 literacy, which most badly lack today -- 0:03:12.710,0:03:14.254 no applause, please. 0:03:14.254,0:03:16.712 It will be better for all 0:03:16.712,0:03:21.383 if they prepare before entering office rather than learning on the job. 0:03:21.383,0:03:24.542 Therefore you will do well to act on the side, 0:03:24.542,0:03:27.247 no matter how far into the laboratory 0:03:27.247,0:03:30.566 you may go, to serve as teachers 0:03:30.566,0:03:32.574 during the span of your career. 0:03:32.574,0:03:34.649 I'll now proceed quickly, 0:03:34.649,0:03:37.838 and before else, to a subject that is both a vital asset 0:03:37.838,0:03:41.270 and a potential barrier to a scientific career. 0:03:41.270,0:03:44.750 If you are a bit short in mathematical skills, 0:03:44.750,0:03:46.079 don't worry. 0:03:46.079,0:03:48.590 Many of the most successful scientists 0:03:48.590,0:03:52.790 at work today are mathematically semi-literate. 0:03:52.790,0:03:55.275 A metaphor will serve here: 0:03:55.275,0:04:01.278 Where elite mathematicians and statisticians 0:04:01.278,0:04:06.343 and theorists often serve as architects in the expanding realm 0:04:06.343,0:04:10.046 of science, the remaining large majority of 0:04:10.046,0:04:14.758 basic applied scientists, including a large portion of those who could be 0:04:14.758,0:04:20.110 said to be of the first rank, are the ones who map the terrain, they scout 0:04:20.110,0:04:22.862 the frontiers, they cut the pathways, 0:04:22.862,0:04:25.598 they raise the buildings along the way. 0:04:25.598,0:04:28.774 Some may have considered me foolhardy, 0:04:28.774,0:04:32.535 but it's been my habit to brush aside the fear of mathematics 0:04:32.535,0:04:34.598 when talking to candidate scientists. 0:04:34.598,0:04:38.398 During 41 years of teaching biology at Harvard, 0:04:38.398,0:04:42.515 I watched sadly as bright students turned away 0:04:42.515,0:04:45.439 from the possibility of a scientific career 0:04:45.439,0:04:49.167 or even from taking non-required courses in science 0:04:49.167,0:04:50.998 because they were afraid of failure. 0:04:50.998,0:04:54.358 These math-phobes deprive science and medicine 0:04:54.358,0:04:57.607 of immeasurable amounts of badly needed talent. 0:04:57.607,0:05:01.558 Here's how to relax your anxieties, if you have them: 0:05:01.558,0:05:04.150 Understand that mathematics is a language 0:05:04.150,0:05:07.974 ruled like other verbal languages, 0:05:07.974,0:05:10.973 or like verbal language generally, by its own grammar 0:05:10.973,0:05:12.878 and system of logic. 0:05:12.878,0:05:15.736 Any person with average quantitative intelligence 0:05:15.736,0:05:18.878 who learns to read and write mathematics 0:05:18.878,0:05:25.630 at an elementary level will, as in verbal language, have little difficulty 0:05:25.630,0:05:27.694 picking up most of the fundamentals 0:05:27.694,0:05:33.031 if they choose to master the mathspeak of most disciplines of science. 0:05:33.031,0:05:36.814 The longer you wait to become at least semi-literate 0:05:36.814,0:05:42.822 the harder the language of mathematics will be to master, just as again in any verbal 0:05:42.822,0:05:45.799 language, but it can be done at any age. 0:05:45.799,0:05:47.510 I speak as an authority 0:05:47.510,0:05:51.361 on that subject, because I'm an extreme case. 0:05:51.361,0:05:55.022 I didn't take algebra until my freshman year 0:05:55.022,0:05:57.053 at the University of Alabama. 0:05:57.053,0:05:59.374 They didn't teach it before then. 0:05:59.374,0:06:04.278 I finally got around to calculus as a 32-year-old tenured professor at Harvard, 0:06:04.278,0:06:08.904 where I sat uncomfortably in classes with undergraduate students, 0:06:08.904,0:06:11.334 little more than half my age. 0:06:11.334,0:06:12.806 A couple of them were students 0:06:12.806,0:06:16.062 in a course I was giving on evolutionary biology. 0:06:16.062,0:06:21.318 I swallowed my pride, and I learned calculus. 0:06:21.318,0:06:24.414 I found out that in science and all its applications, 0:06:24.414,0:06:28.376 what is crucial is not that technical ability, 0:06:28.376,0:06:31.545 but it is imagination in all of its applications. 0:06:31.545,0:06:35.879 The ability to form concepts with images of entities and processes 0:06:35.879,0:06:38.815 pictured by intuition. 0:06:38.815,0:06:43.159 I found out that advances in science rarely come upstream 0:06:43.159,0:06:46.191 from an ability to stand at a blackboard 0:06:46.191,0:06:49.326 and conjure images from unfolding mathematical propositions 0:06:49.326,0:06:51.182 and equations. 0:06:51.182,0:06:56.614 They are instead the products of downstream imagination leading to hard work, 0:06:56.614,0:07:01.174 during which mathematical reasoning may or may not prove to be relevant. 0:07:01.174,0:07:06.373 Ideas emerge when a part of the real or imagined world is studied 0:07:06.373,0:07:07.790 for its own sake. 0:07:07.790,0:07:13.431 Of foremost importance is a thorough, well-organized knowledge 0:07:13.431,0:07:20.080 of all that is known of the relevant entities and processes that might be involved in that domain 0:07:20.080,0:07:21.520 you propose to enter. 0:07:21.520,0:07:23.646 When something new is discovered, 0:07:23.646,0:07:28.615 it's logical then that one of the follow-up steps is 0:07:28.615,0:07:32.767 to find the mathematical and statistical methods to move its analysis forward. 0:07:32.767,0:07:35.319 If that step proves too difficult for 0:07:35.319,0:07:39.491 the person or team that made the discovery, 0:07:39.491,0:07:44.790 a mathematician can then be added by them 0:07:44.790,0:07:47.087 as a collaborator. 0:07:47.087,0:07:49.246 Consider the following principle, 0:07:49.246,0:07:54.446 which I will modestly call Wilson's Principle Number One: 0:07:54.446,0:07:58.846 It is far easier for scientists 0:07:58.846,0:08:03.415 including medical researchers, to require needed collaboration 0:08:03.415,0:08:05.533 in mathematics and statistics 0:08:05.533,0:08:09.214 than it is for mathematicians and statisticians 0:08:09.214,0:08:13.310 to find scientists able to make use of their equations. 0:08:13.310,0:08:17.404 It is important in choosing the direction to take in science 0:08:17.404,0:08:23.150 to find the subject at your level of competence that interests you deeply, 0:08:23.150,0:08:24.790 and focus on that. 0:08:24.790,0:08:29.486 Keep in mind, then, Wilson's Second Principle: 0:08:29.486,0:08:34.022 For every scientist, whether researcher, technician, 0:08:34.022,0:08:37.117 teacher, manager or businessman, 0:08:37.117,0:08:41.104 working at any level of mathematical competence, 0:08:41.104,0:08:44.558 there exists a discipline in science or medicine 0:08:44.558,0:08:48.494 for which that level is enough to achieve excellence. 0:08:48.494,0:08:51.054 Now I'm going to offer quickly 0:08:51.054,0:08:53.462 several more principles that will be useful 0:08:53.462,0:08:56.150 in organizing your education and career, 0:08:56.150,0:09:00.535 or if you're teaching, how you might 0:09:00.535,0:09:05.423 enhance your own teaching and counseling of young scientists. 0:09:05.423,0:09:09.222 In selecting a subject in which to conduct original research, 0:09:09.222,0:09:12.422 or to develop world-class expertise, 0:09:12.422,0:09:17.750 take a part of the chosen discipline that is sparsely inhabited. 0:09:17.750,0:09:22.462 Judge opportunity by how few other students and researchers 0:09:22.462,0:09:23.998 are on hand. 0:09:23.998,0:09:27.648 This is not to de-emphasize the essential requirement 0:09:27.648,0:09:31.087 of broad training, or the value of apprenticing yourself 0:09:31.087,0:09:35.550 in ongoing research to programs of high quality. 0:09:35.550,0:09:40.278 It is important also to acquire older mentors within these successful 0:09:40.278,0:09:44.166 programs, and to make friends and colleagues of your age 0:09:44.166,0:09:46.022 for mutual support. 0:09:46.022,0:09:48.710 But through it all, look for a way to break out, 0:09:48.710,0:09:52.646 to find a field and subject not yet popular. 0:09:52.646,0:09:56.423 We have seen this demonstrated already in the talks preceding mine. 0:09:56.423,0:10:01.534 There is the quickest way advances are likely to occur, 0:10:01.534,0:10:05.151 as measured in discoveries per investigator per year. 0:10:05.151,0:10:06.758 You may have heard the 0:10:06.758,0:10:10.518 military dictum for the gathering of armies: 0:10:10.518,0:10:13.239 March to the sound of the guns. 0:10:13.239,0:10:19.749 In science, the exact opposite is the case: March away from the sound of the guns. 0:10:19.749,0:10:22.454 So Wilson's Principle Number Three: 0:10:22.454,0:10:25.798 March away from the sound of the guns. 0:10:25.798,0:10:27.662 Observe from a distance, 0:10:27.662,0:10:29.759 but do not join the fray. 0:10:29.759,0:10:32.127 Make a fray of your own. 0:10:32.127,0:10:36.382 Once you have settled on a specialty, 0:10:36.382,0:10:41.662 and the profession you can love, and you've secured opportunity, 0:10:41.662,0:10:46.943 your potential to succeed will be greatly enhanced if you study it 0:10:46.943,0:10:49.623 enough to become an expert. 0:10:49.623,0:10:52.950 There are thousands of professionally delimited 0:10:52.950,0:10:55.426 subjects sprinkled through physics and chemistry 0:10:55.426,0:10:57.342 to biology and medicine. 0:10:57.342,0:11:00.238 And on then into the social sciences, 0:11:00.238,0:11:03.440 where it is possible in short time to acquire 0:11:03.440,0:11:06.014 the status of an authority. 0:11:06.014,0:11:09.526 When the subject is still very thinly populated, 0:11:09.526,0:11:12.147 you can with diligence and hard work become 0:11:12.147,0:11:14.358 the world authority. 0:11:14.358,0:11:18.319 The world needs this kind of expertise, 0:11:18.319,0:11:20.494 and it rewards the kind of people 0:11:20.494,0:11:22.646 willing to acquire it. 0:11:22.646,0:11:27.142 The existing information and what you self-discover 0:11:27.142,0:11:31.253 may at first seem skimpy and difficult to connect 0:11:31.253,0:11:33.289 to other bodies of knowledge. 0:11:33.289,0:11:35.158 Well, if that's the case, 0:11:35.158,0:11:39.300 good. Why hard instead of easy? 0:11:39.300,0:11:44.155 The answer deserves to be stated as Principle Number Four. 0:11:44.155,0:11:47.574 In the attempt to make scientific discoveries, 0:11:47.574,0:11:49.567 every problem is an opportunity, 0:11:49.567,0:11:51.062 and the more difficult the problem, 0:11:51.062,0:11:53.822 the greater will be the importance of its solution. 0:11:53.822,0:11:57.630 Now this brings me to a basic categorization 0:11:57.630,0:12:00.505 in the way scientific discoveries are made. 0:12:00.505,0:12:03.869 Scientists, pure mathematicians among them, 0:12:03.869,0:12:07.136 follow one or the other of two pathways: 0:12:07.136,0:12:09.246 First through early discoveries, 0:12:09.246,0:12:11.390 a problem is identified 0:12:11.390,0:12:13.222 and a solution is sought. 0:12:13.222,0:12:15.751 The problem may be relatively small; 0:12:15.751,0:12:21.172 for example, where exactly in a cruise ship does the norovirus begin to spread? 0:12:21.172,0:12:27.078 Or larger, what's the role of dark matter in the expansion of the universe? 0:12:27.078,0:12:31.537 As the answer is sought, other phenomena are typically discovered 0:12:31.537,0:12:33.182 and other questions are asked. 0:12:33.182,0:12:36.198 This first of the two strategies is like a hunter, 0:12:36.198,0:12:40.447 exploring a forest in search of a particular quarry, 0:12:40.447,0:12:43.366 who finds other quarries along the way. 0:12:43.366,0:12:46.198 The second strategy of research 0:12:46.198,0:12:47.990 is to study a subject broadly 0:12:47.990,0:12:52.766 searching for unknown phenomena or patterns of known phenomena 0:12:52.766,0:12:56.567 like a hunter in what we call "the naturalist's trance," 0:12:56.567,0:13:00.230 the researcher of mind is open to anything interesting, 0:13:00.230,0:13:01.614 any quarry worth taking. 0:13:01.614,0:13:03.967 The search is not for the solution of the problem, 0:13:03.967,0:13:07.174 but for problems themselves worth solving. 0:13:07.174,0:13:09.166 The two strategies of research, 0:13:09.166,0:13:12.351 original research, can be stated as follows, 0:13:12.351,0:13:16.639 in the final principle I'm going to offer you: 0:13:16.639,0:13:20.903 For every problem in a given discipline of science, 0:13:20.903,0:13:24.478 there exists a species or entity or phenomenon 0:13:24.478,0:13:26.424 ideal for its solution. 0:13:26.424,0:13:31.822 And conversely, for every species or other entity 0:13:31.822,0:13:34.758 or phenomenon, there exist important problems 0:13:34.758,0:13:42.335 for the solution of which, those particular objects of research are ideally suited. 0:13:42.335,0:13:44.272 Find out what they are. 0:13:44.272,0:13:47.407 You'll find your own way to discover, 0:13:47.407,0:13:49.590 to learn, to teach. 0:13:49.590,0:13:53.023 The decades ahead will see dramatic advances 0:13:53.023,0:13:57.590 in disease prevention, general health, the quality of life. 0:13:57.590,0:14:03.615 All of humanity depends on the knowledge and practice of the medicine and the science 0:14:03.615,0:14:05.198 behind it you will master. 0:14:05.198,0:14:08.662 You have chosen a calling that will come in steps 0:14:08.662,0:14:14.073 to give you satisfaction, at its conclusion, of a life well lived. 0:14:14.073,0:14:16.686 And I thank you for having me here tonight. 0:14:16.686,0:14:22.054 (Applause) 0:14:22.054,0:14:23.326 Oh, thank you. 0:14:23.326,0:14:30.482 Thank you very much. 0:14:30.482,0:14:35.014 I salute you.