The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics One Hundred Reasons to be a Si Copyright © 2004 by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (CTP) Conditions of use: All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission or without the acknowledgment of the source. A single copy can be saved or printed for personal use only. The copyright n disclaimer must not be removed from the document. Strada Coster |, 34014 Teese, aly - Tel, #39 040 22401 | Fax +39 040 224 163 - sel info@icepi, wwwetptthe abdus salam international centre for theoretical physics 1964 anniversary 2004 ONE HUNDRED REASONS TO BE A SCIENTIST TRIESTE 2004 ITALYONE HUNDRED REASONS TO BE A SCIENTIST.Q a v Intemational Cente for Theoretical Physics (CTP) ite authorization w reproduce and disseminate this plication in he ICTP Publications & Printing Section(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist PREFACE Katepalti B. Sreenivasan “The Absks Salam Intemational Cente for Theoretical Physics, Trieste A paradox of ou times is that, while our socictied have come to depend on technological advances as never before, the inlerest. in basic stieuees is -Aeaders willbe the eal heroes of advanced nations of the XI Century. “ ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist Livine wits Paysics Michael Berry HLH Wills Physics Laboratory Bristol, UK If you get your knowiedge of since tiny from the TY, you might have the impression that itsaweird activity, very far from what most people care sbout. But scence isn't remote at all the worlis connected in strange and wonderfal ways, Thnk about this: many of youhave a ed player. You cn take itanywhere—on the berch, up @ mountain, theouah the forests, inthe deserts, at the north pole, eveti=and listen to: music reprodiced. almost perfectly. ‘That wasn't possible ‘before inal of human history. In previous centuries, if you wanted toyfhearmisic, you had to go to Inve performances. Bufnow we have this fantastic freedom that anyone, in any,part of the world, can share the experiance, In acseay, ft’ the ultimate democracy: making available 10 tauy what could previously be enjoyed ouly by a few. How has this come about? Strange as it ems: through a physicis's dreaming Taside everyled player isa laser Its light bounces Comey ofMicbe Bary off lthe bimps and pits on the disk, and electronics onverts the” signal info sound, The laser wasn't discontred hy serident Tt wns devioned, hy apnigine co understanding of waves and pastes of iat that comes directly from quant physics, ‘which sives our deepest understanding ofthe strange tiny world inside atoms and smaller. The laser works on a principle discovered by Einstein nearly « hundved years ago. It was pure ‘heory—dreaming while you're awake: He paver dreamed that fy years later other scientist ‘would apply this principle to create bright pi ht. ‘Nobody imagined thaflengincers would use litle lasers to read music. It isn't only lasers: the electronic circwits\that convert the music into sound contain millions of transistors — another device designed using quantum physs. And it isn't oy physicists and engineers. To design how the bumps and pits on the ed represent the music involves mathematics: arithmetic, trigonometry, algcbra—just those subjects where you hear people, who should now better, wotder if they're any use ‘And of gous it's hot only ed players, Every supermarket checkout has a laser, and every mobile phone hias:sillions of transistors. The point I'm making is that these are quantum ivsics machines, applying very abstract ides to practical inventions we use every day. Tim a theotetical physicist, working at t2e abstract end of this chain of comections—a dseamet jand scribbles, of mathematics, mostly. It's a mistake to think that only ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses #(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ‘mathematicians do mathematics, Sometimes in physics you need mathematics that hasn't been invented yet, so we make it up ourselves, and mathematicians come later and tidy it upsOf ‘course, it happens the other way too—we need to do some new types of sums, and find that a Imndred years ago mathematicians have anticipated us, with pure thinking they never imagined anyone would find useful—the laser story again. My work is about waves in light, ‘on water, in quantum physics, and other sorts of waves. It’s the connections that excite mme— to start trying to understand why images in big telescopes get blurred, and thea find you've ‘explained the bright dancing lines of light on the bottom of swiauming pools. It's a good life, and suits me personally because I'm not a very competi person. This ‘might seem strange, because again the popular image, encouraged By the modia, is of scientists at each other's thtoals, fighting to get their discoveries published before other people, competing for research money. As with any human activity. that does happen Somietimes. But in all my years as a scientist 've almost always encountered the opposite: not ‘competition but fiendly cooperation, sharing resus. This isn't because Soientists are better thaa other people: in ou puivate lives we've up different from anyone else’ We cooperate simply because the ways that nature works are so well hidden that no individual can discover them by himself or herself. We're much cleverer together thn. separately, so it makes sense to ‘cooperate, And the cooperation works across all cultures, ations, races, religions. Whether Tm in the UK, the USA, Aftica, China, Lebanoa or Israel, there's immediate communication ‘and understanding (thank goodness every scientist speaks English, ‘When I started, I never knew any of this—about dreaming, about connections, about travelling, about cooperation. In my family, only 6ne cousin had any education beyond sixteen. It wasn’t a rich or a happy family: my father who was a taxi-driver, was a violent ‘man, and my mother spoiled her eyesight takiag in sewing to make up for the money he ‘gambled away. T vias lucky to be bom into.a secieky here you didn’t have to be rich to get ‘educated. Education isthe key. Barker, L wrote “himselt or herself", Halt the WOrld’s children are girs. Why 1s so mich of their creative talent wasted? I have something to say about this. Fist of all, there’s this image ‘of science as a masculine activity. It's just wong. I mentioned cooperation rather than ‘competition. That's traditionally mmsch mores feminine than a masculine characteristic, ‘Then there's this image of sciene@as lots @f zadgets: toys for boys. Well, I enjoy cooking, ‘and I'm pleased to have a collegaue who studies the science of cooking—he calls it molecular ‘gastronomy. 1's physics and chemistry, applied lo what we call “soft condensed matter’. He's collaborating with a leading chef. 49 create new and wonderful dishes—for example instant perfect ice eream, made by dinking the mixnure ia liquid nitrogen. Again, there's a weird View that it’s awkward being a scientist and raising a family atthe same time. My wife is a biologist working in our Eye Hospital, trying to understand the ‘miserable disease of dry eyes, She was studying when our babies were bom, so for the first cighteen months oftheir lives [raised them in ny office—an interesting experience, unusual for a man, which taught me a great deal (about the liberating technology of disposable diapers, for example): “ ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist ‘Things are changing. Last year I was on to committees, One was to award the main prize in Britain for research in mathematics. Affer 150 years it went to a woman for the first time ‘The other committee gives grants to support the six brightest young mathematicians in [Burope: our two top asvards were for women. And in Britain, the best scientific research jabs for young scientists, in all subjects, come from the Royal Society of Londom—that’s our Scientific Academy. They give several lnnied graals each year, Last year; many of theis ‘grants went to women. Things are changing The excitement of scientific discovery is the timer knowledge it gives us, th)quiet satisfaction at something understood. In science, when you discover sofisthing new, even a small thing, you're floating on a cloud for days. That's what delights ie. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses °(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise Way I BECAME A PHYSICIST Nicolaas Bicembergen University of Arizona, USA ‘As a teenager inthe Netherlands, ated Latin School (gymnasium) in Utrecht, 9 city of about one Irundred thousand inhabitants. 1 bicyeled every day about six miles each way, from my pafeal home in a suburb. My parents always engonraged jnjllectual pursuits 2s well as participation in sports. The high School cariculum emphasized “instruction in six Inguages and history, but frtntely 00d teachers in mathematics and the seinces captured my attention. 1 selected 19 specialize in the study @P physics at the Iumiversity, Because I found this subject the most difficult and challenging, [Was especially intrigued by ‘the mathematical derption of physical phenomena, such asthe motion of manter and the direction of light [Ivias‘ascinated by reading about the lives of Marie Curie and Abert Einstein, who were famous scientists in my school days, At the university I considered ©CoutesyofNislam Bienbeees myself nat bright enough to specialize in theoretical physics, amd)L learned that laboratory work often, involves setbacks and negative outcomes. The success jn makina some new ohservations is, however eery eweiting.althongh iti sonal: achiovod ‘with one percent inspiration and ninety nine pereent perspiration. During World War II the ‘Netheslands were occupied by Germ forces, aud the Nazi authorities closed the University ‘of Utrecht in May 1943, Nevertheless I continued reading pysics textbooks forthe next two ‘years, until we were liberated by the Allied forces. ‘My perseverance was sendiled white I obtained admission to the Physics Department of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachnsets, US.A. in early 1946. [ became the fist PhD. graduate student of Professor Edward M. 2urcell, who was to share the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1982 with Felix Bloch for their ciscovery of nuclear magnetic resonance in ‘condensed matter. My researth work on miclear magnetic relaxation was very exciting, and involved a combination of experiment and theory. The results were published in » paper frequently cited as BPP, after the joint authors N Blocmbergen, E.M. Purcell and R.V. Pound. ‘What we did not anticipate in 1948 is thatthe research results of that paper would a quarter of | ‘a century Iter tum out to be basic tothe develepment of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. This ‘medical diagnostic teehiique which was recognzed by the award of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, has now become about as important as x-ray imaging x0 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist Any doubts I may have had about my decision to become a scientist dusing the difficult ‘war years, vanished in 1946, The scientife enterprise had entered a golden ages and, I remsined an active participant in it forthe next half century. As a Harvard faculty member, I also enjoyed teaching new generations of student and [ hhave benefited enormously from their collaberations, discussions and erticisms, Since scitice ‘is a universal, international discipline, I also enjoyed my trips to intemationa¢onferences and served as a visiting faculty member at Universities in France, Germany, India and the ‘Netheslands as well a in various states ofthe USA. My early work on magnetic relaxation phenomena led in a natural ay to the invention in 1956 of pumping scheme for amplifiers based on stinmlated emission of radiation knows as rmusers and lasers. By concentrating the light energy in space and time extremely high intensities, or power flux densities, can be achieved. This in tara opened uplainew subfield of scientific endeavor. This field is concemed with the optical properties of matetials at very high ight intensities and is called Nonlinear Optics Again, I experienced the good fortune thatthe field of lasers and nonlinear optics gave rise to important technologies. Lasers are used extensively in.medlcine and surgery, in global optical fiber communications, and the constriction and niaterals process industries. In retrospect my choice to become a physicist more than ikty-five years ago hus been very rewarding. Pethaps the Ife sciences, gecphysies and=eosmology present even greater challenges at the present time. If you are curious enough, you should seriously consider further scientific taining. New technologies have a profound influence on society in all counties, and they are all based on scientifie principles. Every country will need further leaders with some familiarity of the scientific method. Perhaps you will be so intrigued by some questions posed by nature, that you will decide to remain a stientis. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 3(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise A DUTY To IMPROVE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE Edoardo Boncinelli ‘Scuola Intemazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati Trieste Italy “God and the soul, that is what I désire ‘iknow. Nothing mote? Nothing whatever!” stated the philosopher Saint Augustine sixteen centuries ago, The structure of the world, from thé celestial bodies to atoms ané subatomic particles—the modem equivalent ‘of God—was the object of my, curiosity. as aboy and as, 1 young man, How the brain works and what really are those entities we call mind and bebiavior—the modem cauivalen’ of the soul—have been, on the other hand, the subject of my work in the second part of my scientific life, After an initial passion for philosophy— ‘mostly Spinoza, Kant and Husset!—I became deeply Interested in the Suceesses of modem physics. AS a teenager | used to devour poplar and semi popular books decling with the ideas of relativity and the new atomic physics, It was then inevitable for me to study physics atthe University of Florence, where I did some pioneering experimental work on ‘laser sources of intense lig beams. Nevertheless, almost as soon as 1 raltaledT switched to biology. This was « big change, from plijsics to biology and from Florence to Naples ‘© CounesyofEdoado Boosie A move I never regretted. It was a stall book by Isaac Asitiov enlied The genetic code that changed my life. bn 1966 the genetic code was just being inyeiled and the stricture of only a handful of small proteins was known, The book wa written like a detective story and opened up to me a world of intriguing unsolved biological questions. 1 spplied for a fellowship and left for Naples, ‘convinced that I would spend only a couple of yeats there, Instead I stayed for 23 years, from 1968 to 1991, I started studying fruit flies, the famous Dresophila, certainly the best known of all organisms from the point of view of genetics. The design of genetic crosses proved very. ‘easy for me, as compared to the solution of problems in physics, and I published some good papers on the characterization of some genes, jst atthe beginning of the Molecular Biology Ea. In 1981 I decided to Rnove to the study of molecular genetics of mammals, including man, and a major change in my carcer occurred in 1985, almost by accident. On my way 10 oulder, Colorado, 10 participate in a biological Congress I got trapped with other scientists for seven hionrs in the TWA terminal in New York. Walter Gehring fom Basel, Switzerland, ‘was among those scientists, and he had just nade an incredible discovery in the study of Drosophila development. A family of genes, teamed Homeogenes, was known in this insect, 2 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist that play a major ole in controlling the correct development ofthe various parts of the body. ‘A mutation in one of these genes may cause the insect to have four wings instead of fw) or ight legs instead of six or even a couple of legs on top of its head. Walter had just isolated three of these genes and observed that they shared a specific region, immediately christened Homeobox. This finding demonstrated that these genes had a common origin and acted through a common mechanism. In fact, their products are now known to be sluelear proteins ‘that control the activity of many other genes. They are “master control genes” dictating the structure ofthe general “body plan” and imposing their decisions onto a ntunber of “executor genes”, ‘Walter Gehring told me all this during those seven hours together, and Djmmediately realized that I wanted to study those genes, hoping that something similar might exist in ‘munmals. Back home, in a few days my group demonstrated that tis iin fact the ease. In ‘manuals, and actually in every higher orgauism, exist genes that ake almost identical to those ‘operating in the fimit fly and that exert the same function everywhere: Ze. to control the appropriate development ofall pats of the bed. I studied these genes, teriied HOX genes, in ‘mice and lnumans and proposed a number of models oftheir action. In 1991 T moved t0 a bigger lab in Milan and aBand6iied HOX genes to study similar genes controlling in. tum the development of the brain. Theit identification showed beyond doubt thatthe development of the head is cortrolled bythe Wery sme genes, in humans, mice, frogs, flies, round worms and in the very prantive flat Won; totally unexpected finding ‘More specifically, we were able to demonstrate that one ofthese genes, EMIX2, plays a major role in the corect development of our cerebral cortex, the most precious part of our brain, singling us out fiom al other species of living organisms. The study of similar genes is likely to Jead us to understand in depth the occumence of brain disorders like epilepsies, mental retardation and some psychiatric illnesses. Ta the wake of these studies T became more and ‘more interested in the Way the brain works, This ino longer the subject of pure speculation, Int may he cor experimentally in he frre nf the cracellad Cig Newnnerionnne Since 1996 1 have dedicated somie of ay time to waiting afew books aimed at populavizing some aspects of modem, and exciting, molecular biology, fully conscious of hove important books of this type had beet for me in’my early days. T also lecture and write newspaper anicles explaining to people ‘hat bioloay and science itself are today and what they can do for all of us. I consider this ® datyjand hepe it will improve the public understanding of scieuce, at least in my own country. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 2(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise SIxTY-Opp YEARs OF FLUTD DYNAMICS Peter Bredshaw Stanford University, USA In the early 1940s every little boy in. England thought that the Spitfire was the best aeroplaiie,ever ‘ade, and one of those little boys is inclined to thinkeo still At any rete, my interest in airplanes was awakened early, and I joined the Torquay), (Devon) Model Aircraft Club at the age of ten. I went throngh the usual stages of wanting, to be apilot and then ‘wanting © be an aircraft designer, but after taking a degree in aeronautical engineering Indecided 1 wanted to go into research. In those days, the late 1950's, there ‘were all loo many aircraft that never got beyond the prototype stage, ifhat, anh this biased me towards “pure” research rather than *project-oriented” work ‘which would die ifthe project did. Of course research, like truth, is *rarelyapure, and never simple”: T have preferred to do the sort of research which had a faisly ‘obvious, predominantly peaceful, and if possible faisly immediate, application. The Press and public never seem sure of what eotnts as science and what counts as technology, but it's simple: science is seeking (© Couesy of eter Beas Jjowledg> of How and why the universe works, and technology is making use of that knowledge—for good rill, “The motion of fds is govemed By the Navier-Stokes equations which, although they are based on the simple principles ef conservation of mass and of momentum, are complicated to look at and very tedious to solvemnumericallyof course: there aren't many non-tivial exact solutions. Engineers are concerned mainly with txbulent flow, the unsteady, eddying motion that forms cumulus clouds aad produces clowi-like eddies when mil is poured into tea ‘Complete, numerically-exact ealenlation of all the whirls and eddies of turbulence for a ‘worthwhile length of tine is impossibly expensive today, except for fsrly simple lows on ‘small scales. Therefore Mhtids engineers need approximate, short-cut “semi-empisical” ‘methods, not explicitly the exact equations of motion but depending partly on data from ‘experiments. Fluid dynamics ig still—to my mind—an exciting field because of this dual reliance on solutions of exact but difficult equations and on measurements at full sale or in the Laboratory.Some oiler branches of science or engineering have either been taken over ‘completely by computation or have to rely enirely on experiment for lack of quantitative theory. so ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist Perhaps it is because turbulent flow is 32 complicated that T stil like looking at clouds, ‘water currents and even milk mixing with tea. When smoking was more popular, watchisgithe smoke from one's neighbor's cigarette helped to pase the time in committee meetings, One of the famous people in fluid dynaaties, now deceased, gave a lecture at Stanford on his research work, and said that scientific discovery is more exciting than sex. His audience, composed mainly of graduate students, left convinced that ether he was missing something of they were, but they were not quite sure waich. The thrilling “eureka” soments)aren’t so common in a well-developed subject like fluid dynamics as in newer fields such as nanotechnology or biotechnology, but they do exist. Most satisfying of all is when a prediction proves to be true. Temember an occasion when had att idea about wind-tunnel design which I rushed to test inthe laboratory. It didn't work, which was a big letdown for ‘me. T then found that in may haste Thad assembled the test rig incorrectly, and when I repeated the test my idea proved to be couect afterall. was able to make @recommendtion to wind- ‘munnel designers which is generally followed today. One of tie most satisfying pants of Wotkiny ju scieuce is dual search workers are am {international fimily. T have more in common with a flids Tesearcher from the other side of the world than with a physician ftom my own town. If aneet such a distant colleague for the first time in several years, we immediately feel at home with each other. Some scientists are better company than others, but very few are really objectiotiablesomeone who is erratic or ‘untrustworthy doesn’t get far in science. Also, most scientifle controversies are conducted objectively and usually settled quickly, in contrast to controversies about less factual topics Maynard Keynes once said that economists were the tmstees, not of civilization but ofthe possibility of civilization. T think that this could aleB)be claimed for most other branches of science and the technologies they serve Before doing an experiment or a caledlation one should ask what use the results will be. In the case of uid mechanics, one wante theyod: t© lead to improvements Ja prediction methods for engineets, or meteorologisis, ct Oceanographers, or astrophisicists or... These ‘improvements come either from improved Understanding, quantitative or even just qualitative, of fiom better or more extensive sels of data fo calibrating or testing prediction methods. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 2(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ELECTRICITY WAS Nor INVENTED BY TRYING TO MAKE BETTER CANDLES Edouard Bre ‘Ecole Normale Supérieure, France 1 went into physics... forthe wrong séason. I was ‘ore interested initially by mathemnties but ane day 1 started reading a textbook on quantum mechanics) 1 ‘vas fiseinsted by the fancy mathematical apparatus of the theory, and thus I decided to study physics. I am. vay glad that I made this decision, but it wap clealy based upon a ridiculous analysis Which shames: me nowadays Indeed the essense and beautyof quantum phys doesnot lie in abstract maiiomatics but reveals {self bes: in the simplest possble-siuatons which illustrate the most striking fenturs of the theory. | was lucky to,graduate at\a time at which France ‘was making a significant effort to build its research. In particular nuclear enefBy was to become a major component of our industial society and I was given a position at Saclay. a national laboratory belonging to the Atomie Energy Commission, before T knew hov to read or write, However I did not work on nuclear reactors,since there was enough intellectual freedom ‘©Counesy of DREP/Oaletocod for doing basiephysies, remember one of my teachers in Les Houches, a ‘wonderful place inthe Alps devoted to simmer Schools (iney lasted eight Weeks atthe Lime), listed what he viewed as the main ope problems: + understanding nuclear forces; weak a strong ‘understanding factual near a steal point + obtaining a good theory of turbulence + sevonciling quiiatum mifchanics and gravitational forees ‘Thirty-seven years later Dfcel extremely privileged to have been the witness of so many advances during my lifetime, in particular conceming the questions just listed. The weak ‘muclear forces haye been understood as part of a unified theory with electromagnetism: the strong nuclear forces, which bind permanently the quarks inside the nucleons, have been ‘understood also on the basis of a generalization of the symmetry principle underlying clectromagnetism (te local gauge symmetry), Critical fluctiations have been understood through a beautiful set of new ideas, known as “the renommalization group”, which insluenced aso many other areas of science in which self 36 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist similar (or fractal) phenomena take place. I spent several decades on those questions and T oop a wonderful memory ofthis exciting peciod of my scientific life. [have never worked on. turbulent flows in hydrodynamics but a lot mare about itis now understood. “The situation of quantum gravity is stl far from its resolution, but if the ideas whit are currently under study (the theory of “supersirings”) turn out to be righ, it would have deep, consequences om our view of the world: for instance they imply that/there are more dimensions of space than the thee that we see. “The present stage of physics seems to me particularly open. After alhase see only 3% of the encray content of the Universe. Most of it is “dark energy”, an etorzy of nothing which stretches the Universe and speeds up its expansion. Ifthe current ideas on @ new kind of symmetry, “supersymmetry”, required by eontemporary views, are right “mimor” image of cur 200 of elementary particles remains to be found. It could be a fage!camponent of the missing “dark matter” of the Universe. The present understanding Of the basic interactions leads to new investigations: for instance, a the constant of physics constant or do they change with une? are tls valves accidental or fixed by sone principle which remains lo be ound? Shall ve know all he basic physical laws when quaifam gravity is understood or will there be beneath a new layer of questions? It would be a deep mistake to regatd physics as limited fo those “fundamental” issues. The slightest bit of mater is made of myriads of constituents and the more we understand vasious fooms of order and disorder, the more new forms of mater that we do not yet understand ‘manifest themselves, Nature knows remarkably how to go around mathematical theorems: for instance five-fold symmetries are forbidden for erystalline structures, but nature las presented. us with quasi-erystals endowed with the just forbidden symmetry. “The XX century has been marked by qhantuin mechanics. Bom with the understanding of atomic spectra, it has progressively become che language of chemistry, muclear physics, solid sate physics (with ite world of infomation technology), Inere, otc. Bagarded initially 20 4 language fora few abstract specialists itbecame in some sense the heat engine of our times. A new era in the quantum world is now wader active examination: it is called quantum ‘computing which uses the seemingly paradoxical aspects of the quantum world, the intsication fof non-separablity of parts ofa larger system. Tt may lead to significant changes in our ‘information technology muuch late in our ew century. Everyone can see how much science, physics in particular, has changed our view of the ‘world and influenced eur technology; comutnications, energy production, medical imaging, are just a few obvious examples of this feet. Those advances did not oceur by trying to improve over existing, technologies: “clectreity was not invented by trying to make better candles" and there is ne feason to believe tha’ our century will be any different in that respect. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 3(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ALLIFE OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, BUSINESS AND PUBLIC PoLicy D. Allan Bromley ‘Yale Univensty, USA. Twas bom on a fism in norther Cando, and received ay elementary and secondary education in ‘one-room and two-room schools respectively. Iam the only member of muy generation in my famaly and those ‘of the reson who, in large part because of the Great Depression, proceeded to any higher education With the help of my grander Thad learned to read Avently by the age of four a had formed a Ifelong interest in science and technology before Ile secondary schoo! wot bebause of any exceptional teachers tt because id been given the keys to the equipment cabineis, the chemistry and pysies Iaboratory manuals and urged teach myself ‘The only reason that I was able to continue my education ab Queen's University was because I won @ ‘national competition for the best essay on the evils of alcohol subject about which T then knew absolutely nothing This tozether with several Queen's scholarships id) English and General Proficiency provided the financial support thar vias isspossible for my fauly. Given this WCTU essay, everyone; inslndirz me, assumed that I was destined to be an English major and so I was registered for my freshman year. At the end of that year I was invited—a high honor —to transfer to engineering physics that included the entire program of both physics and electrical enginesting. Graduating with highest hetioes I hadPalzeady spent summers as an operating engineer for ‘Ontario Hydro at Niagara Falls and had concloded already that I would transler to surgery or physics, and on invitation from Professor J.A. Gray—one ofthe giants of Canadian seience— deciced to join his group. Ldid reseaxch to my uster’s degree in nuclear physies. A summer ‘appointment at the National Research Couneil of Canada in Ottawa on cosmic ray research. resulted in my going to the University of Rochester, immediately after my mariage to Patricia Basser, to join thie easmic ray group lead by Professors Helmut Bradt and Bemard Peters. ‘Within a week of my anal in Rochester, Bradt died and Peters was deported as a potential ‘communist, killing the cosmic ray program, Someyilflita loss Ptransferred to nuclear physics on the largely defunct second 27-inch cyclotron ever built that with another graduate stident we rebuilt to operating status. Iwas one ‘of the frst persons in the U.S. to study stripping “eactions to prove that nitrogen 1. and carbon, © Counesy of Bactrach 38 the abdus salam icrmatonal centre for theoreti physics(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist 14 both had positive party—at the time providing critical support for the validity of the nuclear shell model. Joined by Professor Harry Fulbright from Princeton we transformed our eyclotrén into the ‘world’s fist variable eneray one and contigsed our nuclear research, myself as an assistant professor until, in 19S5, I joined the Chalk iver Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (Canada’s Los Alamos). With supesbly qualified colleagues we demonstrated, using @ 4MV Van de Graaff and the world's only Iver of 3He gas, thatthe collective nuclear model and the deformed shell model introduced by Bohr, Mottelson and Nilsson in Copenhagen 10 describe melei heavier than iron, were even more successful in describingiicle such as neon 20 and magnesium 25, ‘Working with High Voliage Engineering we designed and constructed the first SMV ‘Tandem Van de Graaff and vith it my groap did some of the earliest precision heavy ion ‘measurements and discovered the first nuclear molecular complex in}earbon plus earbon, We Inter leamed this to be an important feature of all hesvy ion reactions, ‘This work was only’ possible because while waltng for the tandem, MeKuy anc I had developed the first silicon ‘based precision detector for charged particles Moving to Yale University in 1960 it rapidly bécatse clear that its HILAC heavy ion accelerator had been designed by and for nuclear chemists and T began working with High ‘Voltage Engineering ou the design and construction of dhe world’s frst 10 MV tandem and installed it inthe new A.W. Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale Ti the following 25 years this laboratory ghidhated more nuclear scientists than did any other in the world. We continued study of heavy ion phenomena and demonstrated that the nuclear shell model developed to describe ligt. nuclei worked even better with heavy nucle in the lead region. During the period 1970-1977, after beeotaing an American citizen, I was Chairman of the Physics Department, Director of the Wright Laboratory and held the Henry Ford TI Chair of Physics. Ihave served as a Direcfor in several New York Stock Exchange Companies and have leamed an enormous amount from this exposure In the latter part of this sériod T became ever more active in national and intemational science policy matters serving Chairman of the National Academy’s Physics Survey ‘Committee, as a member if the National Science Board, as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and of the Intemational Union of Pore ‘and Applied Physics (IUPAP), aud as a chailer member of the Reagan White House Science ‘Corneil where I chaired the U'S. side of the Ludo-U.S., the BrazilU.S. and the Soviet Union- US. bilaterals on Seignee and Technology. In 1988 PyeSident Reagan awarded me the U.S. National Medal of Seience and in 1989 T became the first Cabinet-level Assistant to the President of the United States for Science and Technology. During this period we published the first public statement of U.S. technology policy, and greatly increased the cooperation between the federal government and the U.S. private) seeton in the” development of geacric technologies, as well as expanding the cooperation and communication among the more than twenty government agencies having ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 2(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ‘substantial research and development portfolios, We also expanded intemational cooperation worldwide, In 1993 I retumed to Yale intending to establish a public policy think tank aigied at ‘improving the understanding and cooperation between the federal government and our private sector bur this activity was put on hold while I became the first Dean of the Yale Faculty of ‘Engineering in more than thirty years charged with rebuilding this faculty. In 2000 when 1 stepped dawn as Dean we had added a new Department of Biomedical Engineering, and programs of Environmental Eugineering and of Applied Mathematics, destined to become departments, [had raised over $50 million for engineering projects and professorships. During this period I served as President of the American Physical Society. In 1999 I became the first and only Sterling Professor ofthe Sciences at Yale. have published more than SOO papers, authored or edited mos®\than twenty books, and have received 33 honorary doctorates from universities in Canada, Chingy France, Italy, South, ‘Africa and the United Siates. With the benefit of hindsight I wonld not change any’ of my ‘career embracing English Uterarure, physics, engineering, business and public policy. And ‘most importantly, T have enjoyed all of it. Changes of-field-are actually important to ‘maintaining intellectual interest and acuity and T would trgs"@ll scientists and engineers to ‘cousider spending some time in public policy and government activities as a small return for all the opportunities and activities thatthe public provides, co ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist Ir WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO PROVE SOMETHING Lennart A E. Carleson Royal Insite of Technology Stockholm, Sweden My decision to become a mathehnatcian, marred only slowly. As a child, Ileamed tread at 4 (upside dovrn) siting. opposite my 3 yearsolder sister. My parent let me show guests thafT could maltply 2-digit (probably not 3-tiit) numbers in my fead. My first encour with more serious mathematics eame when I was 16 and took over Some university textbooks. remenber most being fascinate statements such as 1-L3+1/Sz,.= 1/4, At the age of 171 started stdies at the utivensity of Uppsala and it was natural to choose subjects such aMthematics, theoretical physics and statistics, At 19 Lgot my BS. It all seemed very easy nd Ls had fp idea what mathematics was all about. 1 also had no clear pichire what I would do in the fare, Ame Beusl was the professor in Uppsala. He save a/cousse in complex analysis and here 1 met a subject which really mystified me and a personality that impressed me deeply. This was when T decided to SComesyofLemmt AE Cilio conte my studies in mathematics. I was sill uncertain if Lwould be clever enough for » university career but in those days (1947) a university degree always lod toa job so T did not need to Wwony. What also helped the decision was fa eur ottered a oo at tne msi at 1/4 ‘ime with salary $40/month which soon Besane afl me job at $160/month Soon my studies for ajdoctor degree began. Beurling suggested that I should read the ‘books in “Collection Bore! about 10 books an then inoder analysis, written in French by the ‘best French mathematicians (Borely Lebestre, la Vallee Poussin, Montel). I don't know what Burling had in mind, but the method to read science books without worries about leaming or examinations is a very good system just for really learning. So I went to the book store and ‘ordered them. I also bought Zygnmind’s bock on Trigonometric Series where I leamed that fone stil did not know if a Fouier series of a continous function need converge at any point—a problem opensince Fonurir's days in 1807. OF these books only Zygmund’s book printed in Poland 1935, remains with me. Tye books all had soft cover and one of our dogs loved and ate the sie of French books while apparently the glue of Polish books is no good. 1 got nif degree in 1950 and a permanest position as professor in 1954, Looking back, I ccan now say that T sill did not know what serious mathematics or problem solving really ‘meant would take me another four yeas, tll 1958, atthe age of 30, when I fr the frst time ‘wrote & paper that T still consider of some interest. There are two types of mathematical research and therefore two types of mathematicians even ifthe distinction is not sharp. On one ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 6(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise hhand, building systems of ideas or unifying concepts of different origin is important. Problem solving is another direction where hidden consequences are extracted. This type attracts most attention, even if it is not more important thin the first. A recent famous example was ‘Ferma’s last theorem”: xyz" has no nowtrivial solutions in integers xyz if n28. The proof by Wiles uses alot of earlier ideas of system type. My own interests have Been along, ‘problem lines and I shall concentrate om that. Foutier’s problem mentioned above was geserally considered to have a négative aliswer, i.e. it was believed that there is an everywhere divergent Fourier series of a continugns function, In theory, o solve this problem one could divide time equally between trying to prove the positive result and to prove the negative. In practice, this dogs not work) You can ‘only concentrate your efforts if you are really convinced that you work ou a correct statement ‘When I finally could prove the positive statement, in 1965, in contradiction of conventional ‘wisdom, it was beeause T had found a non-sigorous argument which, was convincing, 1 thought In the case T just mentioned, it had taken me almost 20 years to solve the problem. Of ‘course I had not spent all my time on this, bu this long process is rather standard. It also says something about what i takes to be a mathematician, ‘The conventional picture here is that a good mathematician is a person with really ‘outstanding intellectual power who solves the problem through-Iis superior genius and the solution comes to him (or her, of course) as a bolt of lightening. Many mathematicians, ‘naturally, lke this deseription but my experience is tht itis completely false. There isa very ‘very small group of geniuses, with very special minds for mathematics. Gauss is an example {for problem solving and Newton, Finstcin, Hilbet or Grotandieck for systems building. I have ‘only met a few persons like that. For most of ws=Nobel Prize winners inckuded—the most important quality—besides of course good intellsernal capacity—is perseverance and capacity of conceutration. Even Newton himsel? explains that he found his eravitational law “by constantly thinking about i. The psythology of ths i to cousider what you are trying t0 do as all- impostant and to believe that you eat do it. This is very much what happens in athletics and here is a favousite story of mine which illustrates my point. Sweden has no tradition in downhill skiing-we have the snow but no mountains that ean ‘compare 10 the Alps. On the content, hovever, the best skiers are national heroes. Nevertheless, in the 1970's! Ingmar Stenmark ftom the little village Tamaby in Sweden became the leading skier in Europe. A few years later Sweden had 3 skiers among the 1S best ‘and they all ame from the same village! This isnow history. However - and this may be sign im the sky also formathematics—this year (2004) the leading skier in the women's ‘competition is again Swedish and she also comes from Tamaby! ‘The story ilhiSfai8 that many of us can obtain amazing results if we are willing to ‘concentrate ousefforts om one goal fora very long period and if we believe in ourselves. The ‘young people in Téimaby knew Inamar Stenmark as one of them and thought if he could doit, ‘they can alsoe What isthe reward? In athletics thee is fame and now also money, much les of these in Science and mattiematics. From my own experience I would say that what really dives you is the challenge itself and the wish to prove yourself to yourself. On a more solemn ° ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(One Hamed Renn tobe» Scent level, it is of course rewarding to add a picce to the Wonderful puzzle of science, Here is a missing piece in mathematics. To add two nunbers, N digits long, a computer pro ConstN steps when N is large, Is this false for multiplication? The method we requires the order of N? steps but much mote efficient methods exist. Try i Probably there is no method, with CN steps. Nobody knows. Wouldn't it prove that? Cnn nn ent “(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ADVENTURE Wir CoLD ATOMS Claude Coher-Tarmoudji cole Normale Supérieure, France [was bora in 1933, in Constantine, Alleria, which ‘was then part of France, 1 did all my high school studies in Albiers. My parents were very mie coneemed by the education of theinchildren and they ‘were following very closely what I wasidoing at school. I think that it is very important for » young child to feel that his parents pay attention to his education T remember also my school teachers who ‘were exellent pedagosues and who knew how to ‘motivate the interest oftheir students T came to Paris in"1953:as a student of the Ecole Nonmale Supérieute which is a higher education institution in France where students are admitted after @ vvery selective examination. T spent 4 years there, attending a series of faseimating lectures given by the best mathematicians and physicists of France. T was © Comey of Cite Cohen Temcoudi initially store attracted by mathematics but met at Ecole Nommale Supérieure a physies professor, Alfred Kastler, whose lectures were so stimulating and. whose personality was so attractive that I decided to change to Physics, I deeply believe it thelinfTuence that an outstanding personality ‘can have for arousing # seientifie vocation, | joined Alired Kastler’s research grap to d® Wenploma Work and then, atter my maltary ‘obligations, a PLD. thesis, I di this thesis une the supervision of Allied Kastler and one of his first stidents, Jean Brossel who was also am outstanding physicist. T keep wonderful recollections of this period of my life. We wete a stall group and the equipment was rather ‘poor but the enthusiasm for researah was exceplional. We had endless discussions on how to iiterpret our experimental ests, I Jeagned these that a researcher remains a student forever. Hie has always something new to learn, some ne tools to master. I remember that I was very much impressed to see my thesis, supervisor. Alfved Kastler, following lectures at the ‘mniversity among his students, because he wasted to improve his understanding of matrix theory of quantum mechanics After my thesis, gota position at the University of Paris. [very much enjoyed teaching. 1 think that research and teaching are complemenvary activities which cannot be dissociated. If ‘one aives lecnaes without doing research one becomes rapidly obsolete because the lectures that one gives do not follow the progress of scieace. On the other hand, giving lectures is very {important for improving: one's research because when oue tres fo explain scientific concepts in the clearest possible way, one gets in general new interesting ideas and physical insits ‘which can stinmlate new directions of research. 6 the abdus salam icrmatonal centre for theoreti physics(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist I stared also at that time my own research group and that was a great experience for me to ‘work with young bright students joining me every year. to introduce them to the most cent development of physics, to stat new invesigations, to discover new physical mechanisms, ‘Our general theme of research concems the interaction of light with atoms. Observing the light emitted or absorbed by atoms gives useful information on the structure of these atoms and on the interactions which determine this structure, Oue can also use light, aud in particulat Iso light, to exert forces on atoms, to manipulate them. During the last decades» spectacular progress has been achieved in this direction. We have developed in ous lab new methods for ‘cooling atoms with laser beams to very low temperatures, about 300 million times lower than oom temperatures. At these ultralow temperatures, atoms move very slowly, with velocities ‘on the order of a few millimeters per second. They can be observed for a very long time and this increases dramatically the eccuracy ofthe measurement which can be perfoamed on theses atoms, It is in this way that very precise atomic clocks have been reeenily built, the most precise ever made, which would be off by less than one second after 100 mullion years of fnctioning, New states of matters have been also discovered, where a mitroscopic number of Uullacold atoms condense all togelier in a matter wave, forming what is ealled now a “Bose Einstein condensate”. These condensates have fascinating properties that we try to understand and they could have very interesting new applications like"atomt lasers”, analogous to usual lasers where optical waves would be replaced by matter waves. Science is @ fantastic adventure. Every sew discovery chasiges our vision of the world where we live. It is an integral part of the human cult’, like painting, music or poetry. Understanding the basic laws which gover the huge variety of phenomens that we observe is the greatest achievement of mankind. In addition, the applications which result from the progress of basic science ean bring a solution to the various problems that we have to face; finding uew clean souces of energy. protedlitia our euvizonment, providing enough food to everybody, improving human health. Everybody should understand that we will be able t0 solve all these problems by doing more seiznce, not less, Finally, T think that science can contribute to improve moral standards) fo elie miolerance and tanatieism by developme, 4 critical mind, a sense of dialogue'and alutual respect. So my most sincere wish would be © see all young students, all over the world, becoming enthusiasts for scientific studies. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 6(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise POTENTIAL SCIENTISTS ARE BORN EVERY MINUTE James W. Cronin Enrico Fermi Institute University of Caieago, USA There are many accounts by / acconiplished scientists that are moving because great difficulties ad to be overcome, either because of anabiisve regime, oF ecause of an education system struggling in an impoverished country or because, of “separate but equal” school systems as in the United States I believe ‘that in ay spot in the wotld, there are. potential scientists born every minute. We lose them because of the lack of opportunity or deliberate discouragement, especially for women.in many countries. The Intemational Centre for Theoretical Physies is an ‘nstintion which tried to help overcome the enormous disparities in the access to pure science. I shall never forget the statement of the former director of the ICTP, Mignel Virasoro: “...the opportunity to participate in pure scienge isa basic human sight!” 4 It is with Se warnings that I recall my experience {© ICTP Phot Archives in becoming a scientist. I was bom into an academic family; not wealiy but comfortable. My father was 3 professor of classical languages at Southem Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas We lived inn afFinant noiohharhnad with an eenellont school system, provided one was white, I suppose that I had a natural interest in science that ‘was just past of my natuse, but so did many others. We had chemistry sets and built erystal radios, With these kinds of interests, ft would have been natural to study engineering when ‘one finally got to college. ‘My interest in physics wadlreally @imulated by an extraordinary teacher at the Highland Park high school. His class was infamous for its alleged difficulty. Consciously or ‘unconsciously, he frightened all the young women away. Mr. Marshall demonstrated to us that rysics was an experimental science, and there was a great deal of laboratory work expected in the class. I might note parenthetically that the ICTP might well think of broadening its focus to ‘experimental physics, af one can be sure that every minute at any spot in the world potential ‘experimental scientists are bom as well a theoretical scientist. will give two eamples of Mr. Marshalls lass. We were requested to build an electiic motor, fiuding pats i juakyards and second-hand shops. It had to produce a part that rotated when sit volts was applied, The variety of creative contraptions that were offered was ‘memorable, The second project was to build a step-down transformer to take 120 volts AC 6 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist and produce taps for 12 volts, 6 volts, and 3 volts. Tn addition, the transformer had to handle a Toad that consumed 10 watts. Most of us went to a junk shop to get a transformer core and ‘some wire. One had to count the tums, Most of us gota husky core but one student took a core from the transformer for a discarded loudspesker. This produced the correct voltages but when. the power test was applied the transformer went up in smoke. An unforgetable lesson was transmitted. The particular student was in tous, but he was a fine pianist and went on to the Julliard School. I discovered through this high school physies class that Thad a great love of ‘analyzing data, any data—the deviation of a pendulum period fiom a constant When the amplitude was too large, or the details ofthe approach to equilibrium in a calorimeter. While in high school, I read serious science books for youngsters: I espevally liked the book by George Gamow, entitled One Taro Tiree... nifty: Facts and Speculations of Seience. ‘When the time came to attend college, which was SMU. I hid. planned to study engineering. My father wisely suggested tht T major in physi and mathematics as an undergraduate and then stidy’ engineering, f that was sill my interest. On completing my Uuadergraduate studies, it seined satura to continue in physics. Twas aepted for sraduale study atthe University of Chicago. At tat tine, 1951, Chicago certainly bad the best physics department in the world. had classes with Enrico Fen, Edwatd Teller, Munay Gell-Mann, Richard Garmin, Valentine Telegd, Marvin Goldberger, and Gregor Wenizel. The atmosphere ‘generated in all the stents a passion for physics and, being, after World War I, a golden age for physics began, I could combine my love for data with a sense that one should do experiments that prodiced data of importance. I also leaned that physics is basically an experimental scice. Unless one had te briliangs ofa Gell-Mann or Feyunnan, it was better to-do experiments. ‘As physies was a growing field atthe tune) there were pleaty of employment ‘opportunities. T ended up at Princeton Univetsity. where in 1964, with colleagues Jim Christenson, Val Fitch, and Rene Turlay, we made a discovery of fimdamental importance, namely that nniverses of matter andl anfimatieenll hahawe slighty difimmnlly This wae net = theoretical discovery, but an experimental one, caried out with homemade equipment always fon the verge of failure. It is a never-ending, fascination for me that a jumble of equipment, ‘wires, detectors and maigncts fed by a beaatiflaccelerator can produce a result that is relevant ‘o our deepest understanding oF space and tine. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses or(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise How I BECAME A SCTENTIST Mainz, Gemany Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA [vas bom in Amsterdam on December 3, 1933)the son of Anna Gurk and Jozef Cmitzen. 1 had one younger sister. My mother's pafents moved 0 the industrial Ruhr region in Germany from East Prussia towards the end of the 19* century They were of ‘mixed German and Polish origin. In 1929 at the age of 17, my mother moved to Amstetdam to work as a hhousckeeper. There she met my father He came from ‘Vals, a litle town in the southeastern comer of the ‘Netherlands, bordevfig Belsiva and Germany and very ‘lose to the historical German city of Aachen. He had relatives in the Netheslands, Germany, and Belgium, ‘Thus, ftom both parents [inherited a cosmopolitan ‘view of the world, In Mafl940 the Netherlands were ovenun by the German ary. Im September ofthe same year I entered elementary school. My six years of elementary school largely overlapped with the Second World War. Our class had o move several times to different premises in ‘Amsterdam after the Gisrman army had canficented ane cofiginal school building. The last months of the war; between the Fall of 1944 and Liberation Day 6a May 5, 1945, were particularly bad. During the cold “hongerinter” (winter of famine) of 1944-1945 there was a severe lack of food and heating fuels. Also water for dritiking, cooking, and washing was available only in limited ‘quantities for a few hours per, day. Which eatsed poor hysienic conditions. Many died of Inger and disease, including several of my schoolmates. In 1946, afier successful elim, T entered the “Hogere Burgerschool” (HBS), Higher Citizen School, a five-yeap,long tiddle school which prepared for University entrance. During those years, chemistty definitely was rot one of my favourite subjects. They were ‘mathematics and physics, BET also did well inthe three foreign langusges: English, French, ‘and German, Dusing:my school years T spent corsiderable time at sports: football, cyeling, and amy greatest passion, long distance skating on the Dutch canals and lakes. Talso played chess. ‘AS a child I read cepecially books about astronomy, geography and discovery expeditions ‘round the yiorld. Tas fascinated about the world of the mountains, of which Holland has none, of corse. During the war we could not tavel anywhere and so I imagined that clouds ‘were sndw clad mountains. At home we had a book sbout Yellowstone National Park in the ULS.A. I seid itamany times and was fascinated by the picrures, First several years after the {© ICTP Phot Archives 6 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist ‘war, when Iwas 17 years old, I saw for the fist time real mountains. Tmet my wife Ter, a Finnish girl, on a mountain in Switzerland, when I was 21 years old. Yellowstone National ark, together with my family, visited forthe first ime in 1975, when T was 42 years old ‘Unfortunately, because of a heavy fever, my grades in the final exam of the HBS were not ‘200d enough to qualify for a university study stipend. As I did not want 16 be a further financial burden on my parents for another four years or more (my father, a Waiter, was often "unemployed; my mother worked in the kitchen of a hospital), I chose to atte the Middelbare ‘Technische School (MTS), Middle Technical School, Iter ealled the Higher Technical School (HITS), to tran as a civil engineer. Although the MTS took three yearssthie Second year was a practical year daring which I eamed a modes salary, enough to live on for about two years. From the summer of 1984 until February 1958, with a 21-momth intemuption for compulsory military service, I worked at the Bridge Construction Bureau’ of the City of Amsterdam, After mariage, my wife and T moved to Sweden whgre worked in a house ‘constriction bureau, However, Iwas not happy. I longed for an academtie.carcer. One day at the beginning of 1959, I saw an advertisement in Swedish newspaper by die Departinent of Meteorology of Stockholm University anno meing an, opeting.for 2 computer programmer. Although I had not had the slightest raining for such, Work applied for the job and had the ‘great luck to be chosen from among many candidates, On July 1, 1959, we moved to ‘Stockholm anc I stated with my second profossion, that of @/éomputer programmer. The great advantage of being at a mniversity departmen: was that I wothe opportunity to follow some of the courses that were offered. By 1963 I could thus fulfil the requirement for the “filosofie kkandidat” (corresponding to a Master of Science) degree, combining the subjects mathematics, ‘mathematical statistics, and meteosology. Around 1965 Iwas given the task of assising a scientist from the United States to develop ‘a muncrical model of the ozone distibution ithe stratosphere, mesosphere, and. lower thermosphere. This project got me highly interested in the photochemistry of atmosphetic ‘ozone, and I started an intensive study’ the seentiic literature. This showed me the limited satus of scientific knowledge on sitatosplienc chemistry by the latter half of the 1960"s, thus setting the “initial conditions” for my seientifie career. T picked stratospheric ozafie, and Tater agnospheric chemistry and climate studies, asthe subject of my sesearch. I yas veryoucky’ thi there was so much to discover. An insportant facet of my research was the impact of anthropogenic activities on our atmospheric environment. T discovered that air pollution #s not only created by industry and fossil fuel ‘buming, but also by biomass Buming inthe developing world ofthe tropics and subtropics. A. review of my research is found in my Nobe! Lecture”. In this choice of research topic I was left totaly five. F catmot overstate how I value the generosity and confidence that were conveyed to me_by my supervisors Professor Georg Witt, an expert on the aeronomy of the ‘upper atmosphere, aiid the head of Meteorological Institue, Professor Bert Bolin ened selene Tnreate 188m te ph ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses e(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise THE MAKING OF AN ACADEMIC ECONOMIST Partha Dasgupta University of Cambridge, UK 1 can’t remember @ time when I did ndt wish to be ‘m acaderic. My father was a university professor of ‘economics, mumy of my parents” “iends wene seadenis, the guests at meals nH home were mostly academics, and what i more, D, enjoyed ‘conversing with them. So, I took it for granted that I two would pursue an academic if But it wasn’t meant to be ia|Beouomies, My father had expleined to me why theoretical physies is the Jofiest ofall diseiplines. At the Univetsity of Dethi in the late 1930's, thevstidents I admired most read physics. So, I joined them And I stuck to the subject ‘on moving t0 the Univatsity of Cambridge as a ‘mathematics undergradiale, fo prepare for eraduate ‘work in puticle physiese 1 was in my thitd year at Cambridge that I changed ‘my mind. For three reasons: First, even though I had ‘been reading physiesfor a long time, I still hada’t been. taken to'fie frontiers of the subject. Secondly, the last course Thad attended, on scattering matrices, seemed to ‘me to bela litany of computations; I couldn't fathom ‘theyphysieSn And third, as the Vieinam war Went ato fill. swing, I found myself spending much free ‘ime with fellow students in the social sciences, tying ‘to detect te economic origins of war In those days it was possible at Gimbridge fo enrol as & Ph.D. student in economics with Dut a perfunctory raining in he subject: Although I obtained my doctorate within two years from the time [ began work ommy thesis, my lack of training in the subject showed. On joining the faculty of the London School of Economics, I couldn't hold my own when ‘conversing with colleagues, This made me diffident, in that I soon began consciously to avoid ‘working on problems tliwere regarded as “hat” (lo use a term familiar among theoretical physicists). It meant chough that I could work at a leisurely pace, ruminating mostly on problems my very besticontemporaries felt weren't worth thinking about; which meant, of ‘course, thatthe) problems hadn't even been posed. It is only recently that I have developed sufficient se-confidence to realise that my contemporaries hadn't appreciated that there could ‘be gold hidden in the problems T chose to investizate. In the early 1970's, a form of pore-mathemutical attimde held sway among economic ‘theorists generally. The best young theorists worked on problems that had already been (© Counesy of Eaico Fame ” ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist formulated, but were tough to solve. Often. they involved generalising existing theoretical results in certain well-troddon directions. Now, the need for general results (for exatuple, identifying conditions sufficient for a market system to sustain an efficient allogation of resources) is enormous in the social sciences, This is not only because the social worlds very hard to read, but also because it changes over time. Since the actual world is abest a blur, theory has to cover posible social worlds. However, my training in physics fold me that even if you grestly generalise a finding in one direction, if the underlying model remains very special in its many other dictions, not much is gained. [ was attracted to an easlie practice among economists that involves constructing sirong special models, those,that are Team and also transparent as tothe directions in which they lave to be extended if they are to cover, ‘more general ground. This viewpoint, which has shaped pretty mmch all my Work, and the chance factors that are endemic in research, have led me repeatedly to identify formal connections among seemingly unrelated social phenomena Tn fact, during my years as a PhD. student, I developed a taste FoRamusval problems Ia any thee Thad developed a langsge for eudying fde! population an ivestent policies {or a nation, Inthe model I constructed o study the ques. an economy's carrying capaci was not a datun, Because investment in capital asels can be anade to expand productive capability, my model economy's carying ecpacity lsd fo be edased from both ethical and ecological considerations, Tshowed, neverticless, that Classica Uiiitarianism were to be ‘sed asthe ethical bass for choosing among population and investment polices, the optimum, population size would not be nich lower an the economy's (optimum) carrying capacity. “Tobe precise, {found thatthe rato of optimum eanying capacity Yo the optimum population size was bounded above by ¢ (+ 2.71)" What I iked gbout the finding was not only that it was ((o.me at least) altogether unexpected - anda blow fOr Classical Uitrianism as an ethical doctrine - but also that it was based onan eGeniic model that took Nature seriously However in the early 1970's ecology ws. not a familiar term among social scientists. Nor was there ready access tothe subject for someone teacune ina social selence ANSUTUMON, aS 1 was, Nevertheless, T mst have been dann instinctively to what is now called ecologica? economics, because nly principle fexearcl ufiug that peiod (conducted jolly with Geolvey 1M. Heal, now of Columbia University) sms fo develop the economics of exhustible natural sesoures (suc a oil ad natal gas) ita gmprehensive manner. There was ite ecology in ‘our work, but in a treatise We published on the subject”, T constructed a game theoretic model to show that there can bea problem ofthe “vommons” even if entry ito a common property resource i restricted) I alsa showed how a community could in principle circumvent a “rwagedy” of the commons without creating private property rights tothe resource. T did't "Tis aes pried Ovrthe yr ae sid Be ecenoms of those bane sis nd aves dst 0 soar th prediton anne of sick chs “onde 3 Kole, Geen, Ws eal cen, ad aos {tezones of cee th itd ete Ibe be ata siomrea In wha flows ep nly ha {in of ey scence Ben dct te merce of al pore be Word's poorest seen, he lca (ghana! reine bine apd teprdicive bekao Te caper wie published a, “Oa the Concept of Optima Population” view of Economic Ses, 1969, 360) 296318 “b Dasgugn nd Heal (197), Booxomic Teor an Eviause Resoweas (Cenlidge, UK. Cambsidae Uneeraty Pret) | ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses n(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise now then, bt the model offered the bass for our eureat understanding of an important aspect of village life in the world’s poorest regions.® Since that book was published, one recurring motivation behind my work has beea to uncover links between socio-economic pathways involving the ives of the mural poor ia the poorest countries and such fandamental aatural processes as those that selate nutritional status to uman productivity and those that shape the evolution of local ecosystems,” But there was a social problem T faced, something I had not anticipated, but which until very recenlly, prevented my work from being absorbed into the mainstream of economic thinking. The problem was that development economists didn’t take the economic basis of the natural environment serioush.® Why? 1 believe this was in large, measure because ‘environmentalists and economists in the United States and Furope saw environmental ‘economics as consisting of problems of industrial pollution. The view led to a/elash between environmental and development concems. It was felt that a nation €ould afford to take [Nature's services into account in economic calculations only after it became rich (as judged by GNP per head), a pomt that was endorsed muplcily in the World Bank's anal World! Development Report as late as 1992. ‘To me though, polufants and resources were merely twolfdes of coin. Natural resources for me were not only oil, 22, the atmosphese, andthe oseansia.sinks for pollutants, but also ponds and rivules, swidden fellows and threshing grounds, grazing lands and local forests, coastal fisheries and wetlands, T fel the later simply had to be the basis of economic life among the world’s poorest.” During the 1980's dtd90s T explored several lines of attack to better understand the pathways that perpetuate extreme poverty among households in poor counties. In joint work with Debraj Ray (nowat New York University), I used findings of _ntrtionists on the (non-lineas) relationship be-ween. someone's nutritional status and their capacity for work to develop a theory of household poverty traps. The intuitive iden we ‘pursued is simple enough: someone who is undemousshed is incaoable of earning the waaes esquire to improve his or her mitritional wats The prior question was why that someone ‘vas undemourished 1 begin with, The tik theefore was to make both the nutritional sts and labour prodnctivity of a person endogenoas in the analysis. We showed that in a poor. ‘market economy the ownership ofphysieal eapitl (eg. land) matters erucially: those who are assetles are particularly vulnerable fo being eatght in 8 poverty trap. Our theory identified a mechanism by which large clasts of people could be caught in a poverty trap even when an economy’ gross national product (GNP) pe" eapite grows. In a subsequent research The eupincal lira alee onamon pope rectece i poor cone pron enormously San ttelae ees year, "i 198, by pre chanceLeame now (Rd ea!) the pion weatse on mode ecology by P. Eich, A [hich nd Hollen (Ecoscine: Populanon,Resoices andthe Boirorman (Sa Franco, WH, Freean, 1977 Sine 191 ave beentanat ecloeyon arpa bs by aber ofthe wor eading clogs a _pevemgsorgamced by he Bee Internationa Inte of Engl Ezonomcs,Stockboim. "To conims ha on inbnly to rower tock scl wre oe ecoperc f por counties and developement csnonis dt were pblsbad efx he nd 1590". *Treveep ie wii lie of tking sa ok, Th Conve of Resources (Canbsdge, MA: Harvsd Univesity ‘Press, 1982). Botte beck bombed rhs ont rarely Been sed by eer evelopment economies oc envieemental coe n ‘the abdus salam wcerstinal centre for theoretic pis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist programme, I extended the theory by exploring the possibility that high festiity and degradation of the local natural-esource base in poor countries are linked to household poverty. In the models I constructed, none of the three spatially localized variables (population, poverty, and the natiral-resource base) is a prior cause of the other fos rather, cach influences, and isin tur influenced by. the other two. The trigger that pulls households into a poverty trap can be institutional falure, which may arise, for example, due (0. breakdown of social norms of behaviour over the management of local common property resources belonging to communities that have very litle asses of other kinds, The models also identify public polices that would reduce the vulnerability of such commmmities. Several recent microeconomic studies have analysoé village level data fiom Nepal aud sub-Sabaran ‘Aftica that are consistent with this theory.!° ‘A recurring motivation of my work has been the search forcomprehiensive measures of ‘numan well-being. In an early work on the subject'!, T showed statistically that political and civil liberties have been beneficial for economic development in the poorest countries, jimplying. dial such libestics ae aut Iusuy goods, In joint work with Karl-Géran Maler (Director of the Bejjer Intemational Institut of Ecological" Economics, Stockholm), I have recently shown that a comprehensive index of welt carvbe used to judge whether societal ‘well-being is sustained along an economic programme, The inidex operationalises the concept of sustainable development, It includes as its ingredients notonly manufactured assets, but also dhuman capital and natural capital. In a book that develops:the'theory in a complete form,” I ‘used World Banlk data to show that over tie past three decades, the average person in the countries of South Asia and sub-Saharan Affica have grown poorer in terms of wealth. The ‘finding suggests that even though South Asian countries have grown in GNP per head (and shown improvements in the United Nations)»Human Development Index), that growth (and. those improvements) may have come in tandem with mining their natural capital assets, to the point where the countries are now poorer per capita. Their development policies have been ‘unsustainable, “While re-reading some of my pit walks in preparation of this essay, Tnoticed that Ihave surely ever published an asticle ia which the bird I was ultimately able to catel was in fact ‘caught. This is because T have rarely ever known what it was that T was really after. Maybe T knew’ it subconsciously, but E doubt that: fn my ease, a discovery has meant a growing realization, not a blinding fevelation) Usually. it has taken me several publications, brick by metaphorical brick, before I yas able even 10 understand what the phenomenon Thad been ‘working on was, let alone to sicover the palbways that give rise to the phenomenon. I don't ‘know whether this is a @ommon experience among scientist, but I doubt it. T suspect there is nothing common, among the processes by which we gain an understanding of the world around us, Tus work a mrmnriein yin na to Walang ond Dasirion Oxford Casendon Pres, 1983). A tape acoun of ie hea publi im an ce, “Foplaon Poser. athe Local Eoomest Scam dein, 1993. 278) trary. 40-15 My endesianbing of panes king wereurisom nection me low cathy works aged by aa extended comerpondence Vad i a ely 190°, ith Professor Joe ‘Woes, who pen taght we he sige acing and Eset of fe Realoaton ia Poor Coe". Economic Zura 1990, 10(Suppemet) 138, * Hann Wall Batre ond te Natal Eoirormant (Ort Oxo assy Pes, 2001, esd ein, 2008) ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses n(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ‘To Be A SCIENTIST Christian de Dive (Christin de Duve Institute of Cellular Pathology Brussels, Belgium Scientists are often described as persons wh know Jot. This is not entirely wrong. To do good science, you must be tained in somes/discipline, lke ‘mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology, somtimes in more than one, In addition, you mst know what others have been, doing in.your field. But that is not enough. A “knowsit-al” is no mote a scientist than a collector of painting is an artist, What ‘counts is the generation of new knowledge or, better Said, understanding. The trie aim of science is to ‘understand the world! Not everyone, however, ean be a Newton, Darwin, ‘or Einsteia. Most of us'do sot grapple with cosmic issues anc have to be'eoutett with adding a litle brick to the edifice. Om a day-to-day basis, scientific research deals mostly with small problems. You are faced with some intriguing factor observation that tickles your ©CoutesyofRockefeler Univesity, crosity. Thinking about it, you Jet your imagination "New Va ‘using all the available clues, all the bits of relevant Jknowledg> you liappen to have in store, trying to come ‘un with same plancihla eeplanatina hie ie the tray ‘creative part of scientific activity, what itas in common withthe arts. But it is only the first step. Then comes the hard job of conffonting tae hypothesis with facts. Does it fit with all ‘observations? And, especially in the experimental sciences, hows can you best tes its validity? [Not by trying to prove it right, ineidentally, bus by doing your best to prove it wrong—and fring, This aspect of science iswhat makes it fan, like any other game of problem solving, like crosswords, chess, or conunstms of one sort o¢ nother. It has the same intellectual appeal, ‘with the added benefit that it may tell you something about the world, What it tells, however, say become clear only ater the fact. ‘This is another aspoct of Seishific research, ‘8 results are unpredictable. Seience explores the unknown and, therefore, cannot, by definition, foresee what it will discover, even less tell whether the discovery will he nsefl or profitable. This obvious fact is often ovedlooked by the liticians and administrators responsible for che funding of research. Because money is involved, they reason im terms of accountability and profitability. This is not only logically ‘wrong; if amounts, to ignoring the true value of seience, namely its contribution to hman culture 1" ‘the abdus salam wcerstinal centre for theoretic pis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist All this I only dimly perceived when, a: a young medical student, in the fall of 1935, T centered the research laboratory of my professor of physiology as an apprentice. I had triejon ‘my hands, and the blend of manual skill and mental gymmasties that seemed to be requited appealed to me. It is only through practice ani, especially. through the stimulating atmosphere of the Inboratory and inspiring example of my mentors that T slowly grew to realise that Thad become involved in one of the most creative and exciting human endeavouss. Contrary to many of my fellow scientists, I was not initially attracted ba spetial field or problem. This turned out to be useful, because it Ie me free to allow whatever I discovered to dictate the next step of my research, withowt preconceived ideas. More(6F Jess by accident, I first became involved in insulin research and spent a dozen years, somewhat complicated by the war and the occupation of Belaium, becoming acquainted with the topic and acquiring the training T felt was needed to address it fruitfully. This included Teaming chemistry after completing my medical studies and spending two years in Swademand the United States to specialise in biochemistry. enzyme, challenged my curiosity and drew me in an eptrsly different direction, I never found ‘out how insulin works but, instead, became a cell Biologist and discovered lysosomes and. peroxisomes, two important cell organelles. The lesson for mie his been Whatever you have in mind, follow the facts. You may not discover what Youowere looking for. But what you discover may be more interesting than what you were ooking for. Tchas been my good fortune that, while Twas working in my little comer of research, tly evolutionary advances, such as no other gencration as witnessed, have been made in our understanding of life. I have been blessed with, enough years to ponder these matters after leaving the laboratory. Thanks to this gift cf chanee, I have been granted a glimpse of the “biazer picture”, a deeply rewarding experietce ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses %(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise A RaNDoM WALKIN PHYSICS Pierre-Gilles de Gennes College de France, Paris Joviminae Once pon a tine, very long apo, a yous man was fond of Paysics He had learnt a litle fom A. Kaster (in Optics), and from P. Aigrain (on Solid State). He then met @ magician: RP. FeynmaiyActually, the Young men never saw Feynman alfve, but he stated ‘ending his papers on superfluid halinm, on foors, and later on vortices. Here was,a theorist who handled ‘equations, but who save far Beyond them! The young ‘man was thoroughly transformed by this encounter Hie dien became a theoretical assist for a group ‘that was studying the seatteing of neutrons by solids or liquids. Tais led him to Work on correlations in liquids, and in magnetic systems—-nothing very profound but the field vas educationally/g0d, Later, he went as Young professor to a young, ‘university (Orsay, near Paris) and he did a stupid thing: he, a theorist» launched an experimental group (on superconductors)! The conditions were difficult (there were bad witches around) and the ‘experiments had to be done in a shack, But there Were also good fairies The lab, with the help ‘of some colleagues, got some anmising results on what is now called the surface field He3, and ‘on gapless superconductors. Later, superconductivity became a Henyy industry, requiring a strong metallurgical background, and our man left the field—taking. with him most of his former students. They ‘ended up on another green pasture: iguid e7slals. This was not an easy migration. The ceulture, the tools, the concepts were very different. But they convinced other teams (-7) 10 join in, bringing in many techniques? chemistry, crystallography, optics, nuclear resonance, defect seience, and even some theory! This ended up in a song action, with many interesting novelties showing up. ‘Then, there was anothet migration, towatds polvmer science. Here, the cooperation was ‘erween te centers (Collége de France in Pars, The Polymer Center in Strasbourg, and the Neutron Center in Saclay). Laer migrations reached mterfacial science (adhesion and ‘wetting). All along there was a very close cooperation between experimentalists and ‘theorists—in each aroup the optimal ratio being ~] theorist experimentalists ‘Now, our man lias gone old—but he still resins the dream of finding new partners. Since Ihe works noW(for the frst timc) in a medical environment, he gets interested in biological subjects) cell adhesion tnd cell motion; b) the nature of memory objects in the brain. As in © ICTP Phot Archives ® ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis% a v all fairytales, our man has had many children (7) and grandchildren. He always provided that it isa rational mixture of theory and experiments.(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise KINDLING AND SUSTAINING PHYSICS Mildred S. Dresselhaus Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA ‘As a child, I was introduced to sciettce through susie. My early acquaintance with people having ‘exciting jrofessions came while in elementary school, ‘when T was a scholarship student jim/violin at the Greenies House Masi School. Iwas hereithat I met children and parents. with comfortable lives and exciting futures, very differant ffompthe lower class socicty ia which T grew” upp, Stimmlated by the environment at the music school aniin reading books like Pan] De Kruif's “Microbe Hunters", Twas motivated toward selfsstudy of math and science, ‘which Ted to my entry to Hunter College High School, ‘the only public high school of especially high academic standards available to gitls in New York City at that time, This led to my-access to a very strong pre-college seademic program. {got into phiysies though strong encourages lity my teachers at Hunter College in New ‘York City, where I matriculated to become a school feacher, and where [first met Rosalyn ‘Yalow. Professor Yalow, ten years older than me, taught me a course in Modem Physics in ‘my second year at Hunter College, Through this edurse Rosalyn Yalow strongly engaged my interest in physics and strongly influenced mie and encouraged me to become a physicist and to pmirsie grachate smdies in physics. These stidine etrtad with » Falhrish Fallawchip t ‘Cambridge University, and continued a¢ Harvaré University and at the University of Chicago. ‘Graduate study at the University of Chicago wascartied out by students independently, but in ‘my case it was even mote independent because my nominal thesis adviser did not believe that ‘women should pursue careers in physics. In my favor to actually become a physicist were two factors; frst was the discovery in my. Ph.D thesis work (1958) of a highly anomalous ‘magnetic field dependence of the microwave strface impedance of a superconductor whieh ‘could not be explained by the recently publishel Bardee-Cooper-Seluietfer (BCS) theory of superconductivity (1957), Second vias the advert of Sputnik (1957) leading to a large federal ‘nccease in research funding in the physical sciences. My marriage to Gene Diesseliaus (1958) and an NSF postdoctoral fellowship brought me 10 Cornell University'to be with my husband, My postdoc allowed me to continue work on microwave studies of superconduetivity for 2 years and to gain teaching experience in giving ‘2 course on clectomagnetic theory to Comell juniors. But after the 2 years of the NSF felloviship were over, there was no job opportuity for me at Comell or anywhere else in hace, N.Y. Therefore Gene Dresselhaus anc I both left Comell for the MIT Lincoln “Laboratoty, which would hire both of us, a very unusual situation at the time in view of the 8 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist ‘widespread use of nepotism miles which prevented two members of the same family from hhaving staff positions inthe same organization. ‘The 7 years that I spent at the Lincoln Labs were extremely productive scientifically. It ‘was during this period that I started research in earbon science, and illuminated the electronic structure of graphite using the magneto-refection technique. But the advent of 4 children created problems with my strict adherence tothe scheduled working hous, requiring arrival at the Laboratory at 8 am. The harassment associated with these scheduling requirements, led to sy gaining a visting professor appoiniment a MIT in 1967, with the thought that one year of child development would help to resolve the scheduling problems Instead, the visiting ‘appointment led to my appointment asa fll professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, this is where I have been for the past 45 yeas, where I trained about 65 Ph.D. students and 30 postdocs, and from where T worked with an even larger number of collaborators worldwide. 1 am best known for my contibutons to carbon ssience, indluding sraphite, graphite intercalation compounds (GICS), carbon fiers, ion implanted graphite, liquid carbon and ‘more recenly filerenes and carbon nanomites, but I uve aso contributed upextaly 0 a number of other areas of condensed matter physics. Meof this work has been done in collaboration with Gene Dresselhais, post does, viii scientists and various graduate students in their PhD. thesis work. Some of the caries work on araphite, carbon fibers and other topics, has recently attracted greater attention, beeatse of the current intrest in fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, nanoscience, aad nanotecibelogy. The main recencoutaibution to the carbon nanotube field has been the discovery of single nanotube Raman spectroscopy on isolaed single wall carbon nanotubes. This work srew ont of too earlier discoveries, the fist showing thatthe lht scattering mechanism Was a resonant process between the laser excitation andthe nanotube electronic states that was selective of the nanotube diameter, and the second showing that metallic and semiconducting nanotubes could be distinguished by the s. Then the crank is defined to be dif 0 and s if 0. 111s easy to check that this crank works for the partitions of 6. The partitions are 6, S+1, 4+2, 4+141, 343, 3421, 3414141, 24242, DeDe1H, QHLeHL+1, HTH, with crs -6, “42-3, 2,"1, -1, 3.406, one 2 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist belonging to cach of the cleven sets Ci). Andrews and Garvan found this definition by following a long trail of analysis also originsting from Ramanujan. I would never have-found itusing my pedestrian method of random search. T was lucky to live long enough 1@ see my conjecture proved after forty-five years All my life, I have worked as a scientst looking for situations where a litle clegant mathematics can help us to understand aature. I found problems that I could solve with a teaspoonfil of elegant mathematics, in physics and engineering and astronomy and biology. I never worried whether the problems wete important or unimportant. So long ap the mathematics was beautiful, Iwas happy. My work on the Ramanujan pattion theorems was the least important of al, and the most beautiful. That was where my fife asa scientist started, ‘with a school prize at age fousteen, Playing with numbers was a good way to start References (GH. Howdy aad EM. Wright, “An Taoduction tthe Thar of Nba Oxf Ueiveity Pes, 1938 1 Dron, "Some Goss nthe Theory of Parinon”Eweks, 1045 194. A.OLL AtkiandP Sennen Dyer Sem: Properis of Pastis” Proe Leadon Mat, So. 3}, 84-106 (a9ss) (GE Antiews an FG. Garvan, “Don's Crk of Pston”, Bull Amee’Nith So. 18, 167-171 (1985) ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses B(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ALIFE INSCTENCE, Sam Edwards Cavendish Laboratory ‘Cambridge, UK ‘My eatliest memories are connected with tying to ‘understand how things worked, and there has meyer een a time when T did not see mysélfas a scientist ‘My paren's gave me scienfific kits fo make mechanical ‘aodels (not Lego, but real spars fo be joined with nuts ‘and bolt), electrical models, before. the time of electronics, and eventually )¢_ small chemistry TInboratory. The war came to stop the supply of these things. bet this coincided with my-tansferring to an excellent school with a_stiong scientific tradition. 1 found myself more attracted Yo the scientific side rather than technology, (Le; what, were the basic laws of physics rather than its applications in engineering, what ‘were the basic pathways of chemical synthesis rather ‘than purposeful design for materials and drugs. This is not « mater of which thing is important, itis a matter ‘of what one can do best. I remember being taught ‘Euclidean geomelty first. T could do it but it always required uesswork. Then I was taught Cartesian geometry, in which once you have a clear idea of what ‘you wesitto do, you always win, So T am a Cartesian: set up your problem in the way you sense will be algood representation of nature, then crunch to the inevitable answer. ‘© Couresy of Sam Edeads At seventeen I went to University ad studied theoretical physics. Like most students one ‘moves around several places infjone's carcer, gaining experience and eventually giving ‘experience to younger people. L won't discuss my travels but only my science. Young people naturally gravitate to diffgulf and fashionable areas and so I gravitated to quantum ‘electrodynamics and made a contibution. I leased two lessons from this petiod. Firstly that theory is usoless unless itean be checked against experiment (qhantum electrodynamics can), Dut also that one has abilities which are not universal; one can do some things much better than others. Since science prospers from the effots of people doing what they can do best, one should seek out areas where oneself can do best, So when my first choice moved to studies in symmetry which 1 found difficnlt, I moved int using the skills I had leamed into an area ‘where they had not yet been applied. This was in solid state theory, in particular the effets of impurities and Haws it the “perfect solid’. This taught me a great lesson. One branch of science caamake discoveries which can be adapted to solve problems in another area. Thus amy study of the structse of the electuon allowed me fo produce a new way of calculating conductivity, Even more surprisingly the mathematics of these two problems is exaetly what 4 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist is neoded to understand the behaviour of very long molecules, the polymers, and T was able to use the mathematics of the electron, the Schrodinger equation, to solve the behaviown of rubber and rubberlike liquids. Again the mathematics of rubber solved the problem of alloying copper in gold, and that mathematics was used by many other people to, solve problems which although scientific are far frem physi, e.g. how does one design the placing ‘of ol wells in anol fed. My latest move comes from the realisation that there are common featies babween cold lasses and granular systems—sand in a tox say. That one can do good descriptions of araar systems, was treated with some scecticism when I first put it forward, but the last ten ‘years have developed a mass of experimental computer modelling 0 show tbe ideas are ‘sound. Its clear to me that there are new areas for physics to con jn the iectiansms of life, ‘he way the tmin fincions, ean the world economic system be understood as a physical fnsemble, can the environment? Its also cleat that T am now too old fortis: bat tere is plenty todo, ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses &(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise How DiI Ger FRoM HERE TO THERE? John B. Fenn ‘rginia Commonvsealth University, USA. “How did you get here fiom there?” is @ question ‘often asked of one who has achieved what passes for “success” That question assumes there is a rational explanation which, once understood, an help others Decome “successful”. Moreover, many if/mot most species of animals and birds have developed procedures aimed at teaching its young the secrets of survival which, in a very fitidamental perspective is the sine qua non of “success” in alnost every sense of that word Indeed, all species of fauna)Seem to engage {in teaching their young the secrets of survival which, in a very findamental sense,\can be considered the comerstone of any meaningful success. Indeed, it can bbe persuasively argued.that Nature itself teaches species how to “suegeed” by allowing only the fit to Now Qiong with others contributing to this project, have been, asked to explain how and why we have achiaved some success in science. The easy and {© Conesy of Allen Jones, ‘most tnutaflp but least satisfying, response to that NCE Germ Servis question, is simply: “I don't really know!" In fact, Wemer Baiconhors’s nncornsinty principle, in which ‘most modem scientists believe, asserts the, impossibility of predicting in detail the future physical behavior of any pasticular atom or molecule, The reason is that the very act of interrogating, such an individual, particle about its behavior inevitably affects that behavior by ‘an uncertain amount. Indeed, ofte can perceiye an analogy to Heisenberz's “uncertainty principle” in Signmand Frend’s concept of the “unconscious mind” by which the behavior of ‘an individual Inman can be governed by mental processes of which that individual is ‘completely unaware! Fortunately for science, the macroscopic behavior of a large population of individuals can ‘often be quite accurately predicted because the tyranny of large numbers averages out the ‘uncertainties in the mieroseopic behaviors of its component individuals. Moreover, the faction of that poptilation that occupy any pasticular state at some future time can also be ‘accurately predicted even though the particular individuals that will occupy that state cannot bbe identified ahead of time. In what follows, I try to recall some of the factors that I tink may provide clues to the sons Thave been asked to explain why Tam here! But I urge any reader ‘not to be tempted fo consider anything I say as « recipe for repetition of my good fortune. As thas often been said, “One man's meat is another man’s poison!” 6 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist My father was rise on a farm which hs father ran but dd not own, In my experience people mised ona farm are likely fo be rescarcefilbecatas they were offen forced fa salve Problems tat ase without ny help from “exper.” Some of my fiends who are exigagedin Experimental esearch in universities insist tht graduate stadenis wo have been fase ot & farm ae ptcularly welcome in their Inborfries because sch students seem mee able fo cape with problems in experiments or wth xuipment han students raised inthe cy! 1 know? that my Dad wa extremely resureefl, soumingly able to fx almost anti mecha or clecrcal that wasn't working properly. True is college degree was in eldetical engineering bot Tstongly smpect that his resouroefenes stemmed more trom his experience on the fam ven he wos growing up than fom his formal education. [know that drag my childhood nd yom [had implicit faith in his ability to fx anything. He wasn exepenln, mechani, slesrcian and photographer of no msan ability wo hid seat love of asic, Oe basement sens home to years of isves of Poplar Mecknies and Popular Seience Monthly which Tread and reread many times, My mother was alo very itelligeat and eatin person. The seventh often shldren ofa county doctor she fimly believe hat a mother auld be inthe hose Sse er ellen, Ia ty tro Nema, tree years younger But unl bigger and Stronger came home from school inthe efemoou. A bodlslover who spent endless hous reading to her children, she was very active member of the Parent Teachers Associations in their schools. Much more liberal than Dad. her subsritions ve 0 pink periodicals ike ‘The Nation and The Chrisian Century. 1 toc became a bodklover ike my mother, and from the S* grade on, was a frequent “customer” of the publi@'libraf'y and read an average of three or four books 1 week fill I finshed college. One ofthe enlist books T remember was called “Stories of Evenvday Wonders” out of which my parents would read to me at bedime. T described. snd explained the intricate and maneous systems that supplied the vita components of our lives which we so often ake for granted lke hot and cold runing water, slecrcity, en, coal and the blocks of ice fat kept food and dink cool before the days of technical rfigerators, When I wos abou sever or eiaht, Dad and Mother invested what tons fo them a consierable sum in. 20 vl eneyropes or yon pong tind The Book of Knowledge”. T became so sniranced eth those books that Toften sy, without unde exaneration, that got trough ellege onthe Book of Knowledge!” “The first ten years of ni life were spent st Hackensack, New Jersey, some ten miles from ‘New York City. Dad was the mutnazer of @simall company engazed in waterproofing cotton duck and located in the adjacent town of Lodi, NJ. The company was sold in 1926 and Dad ‘was unceremoniously released by the new owners in 1925. Approaching $0 and finding equivalent jobs searces he wa'paying the bills by working as a temporary draftsman at the Fokker Aircraft Company in nemby Teterboro, NJ. The value of having a trade as @ back-up for a profession was an enduring object lesson for a youngster on the eve of the Great Depression and was the reason that I Inter went to welding sehool and became a certified lectric elder! Eu 1928 we moved to Berea, Kentucky, the home of a remarkable institution ‘with the official tite Of “Berea College and Allied Schools.” It comprised a student body of some 100, divided among four schools including: (a) The Foundation Junior High School, ‘with an ungraded program through which students with as litle as two years of formal school could progress at their own rate up through the equivalent of eighth grade, finishing with an accredited ninth grade curriculum, (b) the Academy. which provided an accredited curriculum for grades tet through twelve, (c) the Normal School with a two-year program leading to a ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 3(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise ‘Teaching Certificate, and (2) the College, which offered accredited programs leading to B.A. degrees in the liberal arts and sciences as well as B.S. degrees in Home Economics tél “Agriculture. Dad’s new position was teaching Auto Mechanics and Electricity in the Industrial ‘Arts Department of the Foundation School and the Academy. In later years Dad and Mother both said time and again that losing his “good job) in New Jersey was the greatest blessing that could have happened to the family. To dhis.day, my ‘brother and I share those sentiments and count ourselves privileged to have-been teared in what was a tly remarkable community whese then soul was its President, William), “Hutchins, father of Robert Maynard Htchins, the “boy wonder” of the American education seene who became Secretary of Yale at the age of 24, Dean of its Lay School at 26, and President of the University of Chicago at 31! “William J.” as the fatien was affectionately known at his own institution was tuly one of Nature's noblemen, A striking. man of vision ‘and patrician to the core, his Berea was a singular stage on which the play was always provocative and the message mesningful. Nave an outstanding person Of letters, the ars, science ot religion of those days and the odds age hi that he or she came to Berea and talked atthe thrice weekly “United Chapels.” Attendance was requized of all students and resented bby most, but at my 50 college reunion there was a semirkable consensus among my surviving classmates that the Chapels we sed to hate had become the most memorable ‘components of our school experience. A most remarkable feature of Berea was that it charged ‘no tuition! It admitted only those students who could prove that theif families could not afford to pay any tuition The whole institution, ircluding severdl “industries” such as large ‘vegetable gardens, a dary, a sheep farm, a broom factory, and a variety of handicrafts, was ‘nun by student labor under the supervision of permanent staff. Every student had a job. The average gross out-of-pocket cost of a year at Berea in the 1930°s, including room and board, ‘was about $300! The standard workload was tw hours a day, which was suicient on average to cover about half of that amount. An appreciable faction of the student body was the so- called “half day” students who eared enough io pay all of their expenses by working four ‘hours a day instead of tw. ‘When I entered college (with thé élass 91938) I had decided to major in Chemistry, probably because of my affsction and respect for Julian Capps, Professor of Chemistry. He ‘and his charming wife Hilda, along wth our nest door neighbors, George and Eleanor Bent, ‘were my parents’ closest friends +0 I got to know Julian very well. He was a grest raconteur ‘who could recite Milton and Shakespeafe at length. He had a rare sense of humor and an amazing storshouse of knowledge of all kinds. ffom natural history to soap-making. Any doubts I might have had were swept away in his freshman chemistry course. He was a ‘magnificent teacher who made his subject live in part because he had worked in industry and. ‘could relate the classtagitto the real world of both commerce and everyday life, much more ‘convincingly than did any textbook. I really looked forward to going to class, arare sentiment ‘among today’s first year students in chemistry. As now taught in too many universities, introductory chemistry courses have become crucibles in which interest in the subject is ‘cremated rather thatpighited. After summer sessions atthe University of Iowa and Purdue, 1 spent threaiyears in graduate school at Yale. I thoroughly enjoyed those years in New ‘Haven—but in spite of chemistry, rather than be:ause of it.I found the courses in that subject dull and my research project boring, but even so, my teachers were kind and caring people. 8 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist After leaving Yale I spent the next 12 years in industy during which the pleasant 'memories of my school years in Berea fostered a growing interest in retuming tothe suoves of academe. When I finally found an opening, through a back door at Princeton, Julian Capps ‘was my role model. Of course, he was only one of the many teachers who, along with my parents, molded my life. I then moved fo Yale where T stayed unt my formal reGrement. Later I moved to Virginia In sum, for me—and probably for mast other people who have been fértniat@lenough to taste some of the fuit of what passes for success—it has been my parents and my teachers, from kindergarten on, whom Imus salute. They molded the rw material ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 2(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise SUPERNOVA AND SUPERGRAVITY Daniel Z, Freedman Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 1 am lappy to join the ICTP’s project present the carly motivations and Key achievements of practicing scicotnts in their own. words. In my case, the sory of how T clnse theoretical physics as{aeareer path is hardly exciting but the trth shouldbe told. grew up in a midile class family which was not well off financially. My mother and father were Joving, and ‘encouraged my edcation, although for Both of them education had ended atthe high sshoo! level, Looking ‘back at yy own high school educations it was tre that {had sone natural talent for science and math, But I ‘eannot reall now sy spetific motivation. In fact 1 recall being rathee‘wigstisfied by my year of physics ‘The text was “Modern Physics” by Dal, Metcalf, and Brooks, which students rephrased as “modem physics is dl” Indeed I left hi school withthe intention of going intemedicine. Happily my trac awakening to physics cam: in wi first year at Wesleyan University, a eral arts college in Connecticut with only 630 students at that time. Wesleyan offered a special joint mati-physies course to a small group of first year students. I decided to join that program in which classes in calculus and physiss wers separate but closely coordinated and tight hy dedicated teachers. It was eye-opening and astaniching far mato loan that that ane ‘could use calculus to describe physical phenomena in a precise way. The basic laws of physics ‘could be formulated mathematically! Ia ths form the laws were, in my view, simple, elegant, ‘and besutifnl, At this point I embraced fundamental physics completely. With some ups and downs, my formal education endgd.with a Ph.D, degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1964, My doctoral thesis was entitled “Regge Foles in Bosou-Fermion Scattering.” Little of ‘current Value survives today, but it was good training vant to diseuss two of my Wyn research contributions. The initial work was done inthe ‘mid-1970's. One of thent has some practical inxplications forthe violent explosions of stars ‘known as supemova explosions, The other asthe discovery (with my collaborators Peter van ‘Nicuwenhuizen and Sergio Fettara) of supergrsvity in which Einstein's general relativity is ‘combined with supersymmetry. This has led to broad theoretical stricture which could have ‘applications to the structure of space-time, and to particle physics at accelerators currently ‘under construction. ‘The path:toward my work on supemova began when the Weinberg-Salan-Glashow theory of the weak and glectromagnetic forces was corfirmed experimentally. The beautiful idea of that theory was that, despite very different progertis, the weal and electric forces could be Eo ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist combined in one single framework. The theory predicted that conventional weak processes, such as the beta decay of a neutron, proceed by exchange of a heavy charged particleyalled the W-boson, This was expected. What was aot expected was the prediction of a new type of ‘weak process, the scattering of neutrinos from protons or neutrons which required the ‘exchange of a heavy neutral patile called the Z-boson. Such “neutral current” pfocesses were discovered experimentally in 1972, and the confirmation of the electro-weak theory brought a lot of new excitement to particle physics. Applying simple ideas frou scattering theory that I learned in graduate school, I ¥alized that there would be a coherent effect in the seatering of neutrinos fromatnieleus such as iron which consists of 26 protons and 30 neutrons. Roughly speaking tie coherent effect meant that the scattering fiom the ison uucleus would be 56 times stronger than that from 26 individual protons and 30 neutrons. Knowing litle sbout astrophysics, biseussed this with uy colleagues who mentioned supernova explosions. The energy source of stars is the nuclear reaction occurring in the center ofthe star in which small nuclei fuse ito bigger ones. Fusion reactious liberate energy which slowly diffuses toward the surface ofthe star, and we see that {energy as emitted starlight. This process takes umny millions of years until the center of the star consists largely of iron. Since iron is the most stable. nucleus, further fusion toward sil heavier muclei is not possible, Nuclear reactions stop in the stellar core. The dominant force is then the gravitational attraction ofthe iron nuclei. This catises the sudden collapse ofthe core into a neutron star or a black hole, and the emitted energy blows off the outer layers of the core and rest of the star. These supemova ace observed and’ are among the most spectacular astronomical events known, “Theory suggested that neutrinos stveam in vast fmers out ofthe collapsing core, and that the neutrino energy is transferred to the outencore layers causing them to explode. Physicists hhad tied to simulate that process on large-scale computers, but the problem was that known, rnon-coherent neutrino seatering did not insier enough energy. Tt was just too weak. T Pointed nt that the eaherent prncess of seating Foner tha mntien inn rrlme me rh ‘stronger and could solve this problem, My swegestion was a itle naive, because the explosion process is very complicated. No single effect dominates, but the coherent scattering process ‘was a new effect which does play an important role. Let's move the clock fora. to 2004s is known that about 1/4 of the energy in our ‘universe appears in the for of eold dark matte. This matter consists of neutral particles ‘whose mass is somewhat greater than the W> aud Z-bosous discussed above. It cannot be the Z-boson, since this is nastable) Cold dark matter must be made of new stable particles which interact very weakly with ordidary matter. It i a very important problem to find out the properties ofthese particles which make up so much of the mass ofthe universe. Indeed many of them ate streamaing though the earth at all times, but interacting too weakly to be detected. ‘Nevertheless, there.are experiments set up and others planned to try to detect these extremely weak interactions and thus confirm direely the existence of cold dark matter. The detectors used consist of heavy elements such as germanium, in which there is a coherent scattering effect which i8 Very much the same as the one I discussed for neutrinos. The idea is that particles of the colddask matter penetrate the detector. With low but non-zero probability some of them will seater from coherently germanium nuclei. Energy is transfered to these taucle, Which secol in the detector and then can be observed. ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 1(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise Supergravity involves rather abstract theoretical ideas, and is thus harder to explain, but T will try. In the early 1970's quantum theories with supersymmetry were frst proposed: Supersymmetry brings together particles with different spin. The electxon which has spit 1/2 should have a partner, called the selectron with spin 0. The photon which has spin 1 should have a partner, called the photino, with spin 1/2. articles paired by supersymmetry are called superpartners. In fact all currently known clementaty particles ae predicted to have massive ssuperpariners. The mass of some of them is in the energy range accessible ta the LHC accelerator which is now being built near Geneva, Switzetland. Most heavy superpartiefS are ‘unstable, but one of them is stable in most versions of supersymmetry. The stable particle is a Jeading candidate for the cold matter discussed above. ‘The principle of supersymmetry should apply to gravity. It implies that the graviton of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which has spin 2, should have a partner with spin 3/2, called the gravitine. This was expected on general grounds, and sevetal groups in 1974 were trying to formulate a precise theory using extensions of Finstein’s geomettic ideas. I listened to their presentations at conferences. They sounded quite beautiful, bt the physical content of their proposals was unclear. Early in 1975 our group began an approach to superaravity in ‘which we tied to work with the simplest physical ingredients, namely the fields describing the araviton and gravitino. We worked very hard for several stonth, We wrote down possible ‘equations for these fields and checked whether they satisfied the requirements of supersymmetry. In the end we found a unique and reasonably simple set of equations. Success sas areal til! Later mote general supergravity theories wefe)foind in which the eraviton and gravitino couple to superpartner pairs involving spin 0, 12, and 1, as discussed above. There are specific supergravity effects in these theories which cau be tested by experiments atthe LHC ‘accelerator. One major application of researc in supergravity isto develop specifie models of | this type. This is important, but there i a more fundamental, but speculative side of “cnpergiavity which we new dices ‘There are two main ideas. The fit i€ltha’ there may be “hidden dimensions” of our universe, beyond the 3 spatial and 1 time dimension that we are all aware of. We can’t see the hhidden dimensions directly, besause they/are too finy. As a simple model one ean think of a tiny sphere located at every point in the observable 3-dimensional space. Indirectly we might ‘observe their presence if we hae high enough energy to produce certain wave pattems on the spheres, These wave excitations would be seen 48 extremely heavy particles in 3-dimensions. Physicists investigated whether the ideas of supersymmetry and supergravity could be applied to higher dimensions, and they found that this ceuld be done consistently up to a maximum of 11 dimensions, of which.3 space and 1 time were familiar to us, andl up t0 7 more are hidden. The second min idea was Hat the most basic mits of matter are not pointlike paticles ‘but tiny vibrating stings or eve vibrating azemranes. The theories chat contain them requite spacetime dimension 10 o 11. Becanse of the unceriinty principle it would take a lot of ‘energy to actualy Verify the string-like structure In low energy experiments we would just be able to sceithe stringy pavtcles as points. Iti for this reason that, fom the low eneray Viewpoint the Mipersting and supermenraze theories are described by superzavity in dimensions 10 and 11. The propertics of such theories are a major topic of modem research, 2 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(One Hamed Renn tobe» Scent ‘and many theoretical papers appear cach month, Tt is deeply satisfying to me that the basie ideas of supergravity which we developed nearly 30 years ago continue to applications today and might eventually be confirmed by experiment! Cnn nn ent "(One Hanised Rena abe x Sinise EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CHANCE” Vitaly L. Ginzburg PN. Lebedev Physical Institute ‘Moscow, Russia My school years coincided with perhaps thie most ‘unfortunate pefiod in the history of Soviet secondary education OF the ofd school (gymnasitim, ete.) there remained buildings. However, thers were several old and supposedly skilled teachers. Chaos reigned over the rest. In 1931 I graduated from a seven-year school, ‘our schooling having been )tcut shoit” by the requirement instituted at that period to Jeam a proletarian trade in a factory. Finally few years later this ill-founded system was changed in favor of one in ‘which schooling went on for 10, and later 11, years. The absence! Of te proper “educational” atmosphere, in the fal articular, had the effect that Tam under the itipresson tht gained litle fiom school, Nevertheless, the interest in physics emerged ven in those yeas anda steady one, though ajelf donot know why. T was fond of O.D. Khvolson’s book “Fizika Nashih Duei" (The Physigs of our Days), which I read even at school of immediately after graduation, it seems to me. Allin all, [ never hesitated about ‘going in for physics, but I ean recall neither teseher, nor the textbooks. (On graduation from school, I somehow got fited up in a job as a Iaboratory assistant inthe [Moscow Evening Machine-Hubldine Insitute. italy. | was "m tammmg” m A.A. wochvar's laboratory of the Institute of Nonfersous MetaLurgy and then I found myself in the X-Ray Laboratory. The chiefs were ELF. Bakhmetey aid NIK. Kozhina (for some time also Ya. Silisski). The major power was) Veuya Tsukerman. Leva AV'tshuler was also there. The three ‘of us were on friendly terms andl Worked togetter. Of course, T ranked third: the lads were Mase year older and ii mire, Vena led ws the 3's for Vanya, Vga, ad imirovich (that was AI’hulr’s patronimic) ‘The work in the Labofitery waof benefit me: it taught me resourcefulness (following ‘Venya's example) and experimental skills. In physics, to say nothing of mathematics, I made 1g significant progress, The year of 1933 saw the fist “free” (Le. “competitive” rather than by assignment) enrollment to the Moscow State University (MGU), and I decided to enter the Department of Phiysies.In three months [ went formally through tie 8th, 9th, and 10th form ‘courses but [aim convinesd that the lack of a good, regular school had an adverse effect on ‘me. While a schoolboy solves, say, 100 or 1000 problems on trigonometry, logarithms, ete, the number Fsolved was.10, oF 100 times smalls. The same was tue of arithmetic. And this * You may eat ia my took “Abou Science, Myself aad Othe” wlth wllaypear soon, Lo Bese, 2004. 94 ‘the aus salam cerainal centre fr theoretic pysis(Ope Hane Reson tbe Scietist told on me forever: I perform calculations badly, slovily, with effort, automatism is lacking. T have always feared and disliked calculations, Of course, behind it is the absence of ability for ‘mathematics (in comparison with the corresponding abilities of the overwhelming majority of fellow-theorists). But this is precisely the resson why the lack of training had so an effect OF course, the lack of regular school adversely affected other aspects, 1, At the age of shout 30, Tread fr the frst time “Bylo i Duzy” (The Past and Meitatiog) and ian other works of iterature (however, I am not sure itis a drawback). Of greater significance i “the Rossin language”. When T-was in my 2nd year at the MGU, all of usfgpk dictation and I made eight mistakes to get “unsatisfactor?" Even now I write ‘vith mistakes. Making sraunmatical mistakes isnot as significant as the ability for writing, the mastery of style and language. My language is somemhat poor ax my phrases are fraquetly-not que litrte, In this connection I recall my conversation wits G-S. Gorelik. Helhadthe ability to write well, and to my question “What helps you write #9 well” be replied with a question: “How many times week did vou mite compositions at sshoo!?”T answered, “sometilke once a week or once in two wooks, I donot remember". G.S, remarked that he had studied in Switzerland and wrote compositions every day. That is why Tstllhave some gaps in my school ‘knowledge. Dsgracefilly, I also do not know forces languages) though, thank God, T have somehow mastered English (but T only ean speak, thovsh with mistakes, and make reports \while Tam almost unable to write on my ov without someone checking i). am writing all that because I have firmly come to the contusion that a parson needs quite a lot so as to do seal work and achieve success and salisfacticnh Not knowing languages is, s arate of fact, 2 disgrace, to say nothing of the harm tothe business. The Europeans do not have such a problem. Any Dutch physicist knows English well apd probably also knows German and French: having a facility for languages, oné could master language even without studying it at school—having stated from childhood aud so forth, But what if a person does aot have linguistic abilities? These are specific abies indeed. for example, am absolutely unable to remember poetry and in general ano! abel lear anything by hear (as, for mstancs, a spor). In childhood years at school, Tieuld probably have been able to cope with all that ‘All my life, Thave felt regret that To notkubw languages, that T could know more about this aud about that, However, en your work S in proasess and there ae so many interesting ‘things in it, will you learn ves or the nates of constellations? T for one have never been capable of doing that All in all, no educational institution would make one into a very good waiter, physicist, or mathematician, unless he exhibits the conesponding aptitude. However, frst, inclinations alone would not suffies. How many talented people never “realized” their potentialities and. ‘what ole was played by the shortcomings in education? Second, a good background, training, cc. are supposedly able to make a worthy professional ont of a person of average abilities, ‘who would otherwise be a daudge, become » failure, find no satisfaction in work, etc. On the ‘whole, it sal clear. Tuite wherever [am led by my pen: and this topic has been touched on ‘because I have often pondered over the question as to what losses T have “incurred” due to "unfavorable conditions at school. Of course itis impossible to give a clear answer Om the one hand, as I believe, 1 was extremely Incky as regards the “realization” of my ‘modest abilities. But, on the other hand, what would have been possible if [had studied in a ‘he aba eam inerstonl centre for theoreti prses 25