tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/nobel-laureates-7713/articles
Nobel Laureates – The Conversation
2023-11-10T15:20:02Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215568
2023-11-10T15:20:02Z
2023-11-10T15:20:02Z
Czesław Miłosz: what the Polish poet tells us about the ‘westsplaining’ of eastern and central Europe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558370/original/file-20231108-27-uwo3r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Czesław Miłosz (third row, fourth from the left) at the Stefan Batory University of Vilna in 1930.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz#/media/File:Jacek_Dehnel_collection_-_Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz_i_studenci_Uniwersytetu_Stefana_Batorego_w_Wilnie_P-1158_01.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1931, when the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz was 20 years old, he spent a summer travelling across Europe with friends. At the French border, as he later wrote in <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/187456/native-realm-by-milosz-czeslaw/9780141392288">Native Realm</a>, they saw a sign that “Prohibited <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-care-how-gypsy-roma-and-traveller-children-face-discrimination-across-europe-and-the-uk-170312">Gypsies</a>, Poles, Rumanians and Bulgarians from entering the country”. </p>
<p>This experience was a vivid reminder that travellers from eastern and central Europe were often unwelcome in the western part of the continent. </p>
<p>Fifty years later, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1980/milosz/lecture/">in his Nobel lecture</a>, Miłosz pointed out that it was still difficult to speak of a single Europe. There were in fact “two Europes”: western Europe and what he referred to as “the Other Europe”.</p>
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<p>The perceived “otherness” of eastern and central Europe is a complex phenomenon, which Miłosz continued to examine in his writings until his death in 2004. As the literature scholar Eva Hoffman notes in her new book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212692/on-czeslaw-milosz">On Czeslaw Milosz: Visions from the Other Europe</a> (Princeton University Press), his oeuvre is, to a large extent, an exploration of this region that shaped him as a person and a poet. </p>
<p>As Hoffman observes, however, this same region was “imagined as inferior, obscure and altogether insignificant by the inhabitants of what was considered Europe <em>tout court</em>: Europe, which stood for civilization itself.” </p>
<p>The Other Europe that Miłosz wrote about was deeply marked by <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/timothy-snyder/bloodlands/9780465032976/?lens=basic-books">the excesses</a> of Hitler’s and Stalin’s totalitarian regimes. Miłosz witnessed much of this violence first-hand. </p>
<p>He spent the second world war in Poland under Nazi and then Soviet occupation. In 1951, he defected from the Soviet-controlled Polish People’s Republic and became an exile in France. </p>
<p>His writings from the period are an attempt to make sense of the increasing appeal of political ideologies such as fascism and communism, at a time when religion, as <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-61530-7">my research shows</a>, had ceased to offer a shared frame of reference. </p>
<h2>The othering of eastern and central Europe</h2>
<p>Miłosz’s 1953 book, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/57403/the-captive-mind-by-czeslaw-milosz-trans-jane-zielonko/9780141186764">The Captive Mind</a>, provides an incisive critique of Soviet communism. Miłosz was ostracised not only in Poland as a traitor to the New Order, but also in France by intellectuals including Jean-Paul Sartre. </p>
<p>In his youth, Miłosz had sympathised with communist ideals. In France, however, he found himself in the unenviable position of an eastern European exile whose experiential knowledge of an oppressive political regime was rejected because it challenged left-wing intellectuals’ uncritical admiration for the Soviet project. </p>
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<img alt="An archival black and white photograph of refugees marching." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558372/original/file-20231108-27-jadsg0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People displaced during the German occupation of Poland in 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Poland_(1939%E2%80%931945)#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_R_49_Bild-0131,_Aussiedlung_von_Polen_im_Wartheland.jpg">Wilhelm Holtfreter|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Hoffman, who herself became an exile from Poland in 1959, recounts the not dissimilar experience of being treated with “patronizing scorn” as a graduate student at Harvard in the 1960s because she dared to challenge what she describes as her fellow students’ “naïve idealization of ‘the workers’”. </p>
<p>Her peers, she writes, perceived Soviet communism to be “a radically progressive philosophy” rather than what she knew it actually to be, “an exceptionally repressive, reactionary ideology and form of governance”. </p>
<p>As both Miłosz and Hoffman point out, to be framed as the “other” is to occupy a position of marginality. This is a shared experience of many exiles. Hoffman uses the term “immigrant rage” to describe the feelings that she experienced when she was ignored, misunderstood and marginalised. </p>
<p>Miłosz and Hoffman rejected dominant western narratives of eastern and central Europe, whether they came from the left or the right. This chimes with the long-standing resistance among eastern and central European writers to what political analyst Edward Lucas has called the <a href="https://cepa.org/article/its-time-to-stop-westsplaining/">“westsplaining” of the region</a>.</p>
<p>The perception of eastern and central Europe as a place of essential otherness continues to shape the experiences of migrants from the region today. The discrimination they face, however, often remains invisible. </p>
<p>While eastern Europeans’ whiteness places them in a position of privilege, it is, as sociologist Kasia Narkowicz has said, “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2154913">peripheral whiteness</a>”. Research shows that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380261221121218">eastern Europeans are often racialised</a> and perceived through the lens of their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23793406.2019.1584048">linguistic otherness</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, sociologist Aleksandra Lewicki <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2154910">points out</a> that this racialisation reflects and contributes to the marginalisation of the region in both political and economic terms.</p>
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<p>All this has serious political implications. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-must-stop-looking-at-eu-migrants-as-coming-from-two-europes-the-east-and-everywhere-else-58007">racialised vilification</a> of eastern Europeans played <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520200000027012">a central role</a> in the unofficial Leave.EU Brexit campaign. It continues to shape eastern European migrants’ <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2085678">post-Brexit experiences</a>. </p>
<p>More recently, the perceived otherness of eastern Europe has set the tone for the public debates that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some antiwar campaigns have presented the war as a clash between, as Stop the War has put it, <a href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/a-win-for-peace-ucu-opposes-the-war-in-ukraine/">“Russian and US imperialism”</a>, rather than an <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/a-letter-to-the-western-left-from-kyiv/">entirely unprovoked aggression</a> against a sovereign state. (Stop the War’s motion <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2023/06/26/the-lecturers-union-and-the-betrayal-of-the-intellectuals/">was endorsed</a> by the UK’s largest union of university staff, the University and College Union).</p>
<p>The discourse that such campaigns have employed frames Ukraine as a place of essential otherness. It denies Ukrainian people both a voice and a right to self-determination. </p>
<p>As political economist Yuliya Yurchenko aptly points out, westsplaining of the conflict has resulted in <a href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/peace-now-stop-the-war-in-ukraine-add-your-name-to-our-letter-to-rishi-sunak/">calls</a> for what she terms a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13684310231172721">phoney peace</a>”. By this, she refers to peace as “confused and conflated with faux international stability – peace for some nations at the expense of localised wars for others”. </p>
<p>In practice, Yurchenko states, this amounts to condoning the mass murder of Ukrainians.</p>
<p>Having witnessed crimes against human rights, Miłosz argued that poets who hailed from the Other Europe were in a unique position to be “bearer[s] of memory”. In his Nobel lecture, he mentioned two of his contemporaries, the poets Władysław Sebyła and Lech Piwowar, who were murdered by the Soviet secret police in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447048">Katyń Massacre</a> of 1940. </p>
<p>Their deaths were obfuscated by a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-13507-2_6">conspiracy of silence</a> for almost half a century. The Russian government would only acknowledge Soviet responsibility for the crime in the 1990s. </p>
<p>Today, Ukrainian poets and writers bear witness to the suffering of the victims of the Russian aggression in occupied Ukraine. Their testimonial voices – such as that of the author <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/03/poem-about-a-crow-a-work-by-the-killed-ukrainian-writer-victoria-amelina">Victoria Amelina</a>, who was killed in a Russian missile strike in July 2023 – offer an important counterpoint to the public debates that continue to take for granted the otherness of eastern Europe. </p>
<p>Listening to them would be an important step in mending the rift between “two Europes” that Miłosz’s writings confront us with.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Rzepa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The perceived “otherness” of eastern and central Europe is a complex phenomenon, which a new book on the Polish Nobel laureate’s oeuvre brings to light.
Joanna Rzepa, Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Essex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214976
2023-10-05T09:20:07Z
2023-10-05T09:20:07Z
Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for ‘quantum dot’ technology that gave us today’s high definition TVs
<p>The 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2023/press-release/">has been awarded</a> to a trio for the discovery and development of particles so tiny they were once thought too small to be possible. They are widely used in television screens, LED lights and to guide surgeons removing cancer tumours.</p>
<p><a href="https://chemistry.mit.edu/profile/moungi-bawendi/">Moungi G. Bawendi</a> from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, <a href="https://www.chem.columbia.edu/content/louis-e-brus">Louis E. Brus </a>from Columbia University in the US and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2023/ekimov/facts/">Alexei I. Ekimov</a> from Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York in the US will share the prize sum of 11 million Swedish kronor (£822,910).</p>
<p>The trio all contributed to the discovery and development of quantum dots, which are nanoparticles (particles between one to 100 nanometres in size) so small that their size actually determines their properties. </p>
<p>Such particles obey the rules of quantum mechanics, governing nature on the smallest of scales, meaning they have optical and electronic properties that are different from those of larger particles. </p>
<p>For example, quantum dots absorb light and emit it at another wavelength – with the resulting colour depending on the particle’s size.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-is-bright-the-future-is-quantum-dot-televisions-35765">The future is bright, the future is ... quantum dot televisions</a>
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<p>The work started in the early 1980s when Ekimov discovered how to create coloured glass using nanoparticles of copper chloride. A few years later, Brus was the first scientist to prove that nanoparticles in a fluid exhibit quantum effects.</p>
<p>In 1993, Bawendi revolutionised the chemical production of quantum dots, which meant they could be used for practical applications such as in technology and healthcare. </p>
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<img alt="Drawing of quantum dots absorbing light." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552064/original/file-20231004-19-ych3n5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">How quantum dots absorb light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>So why are quantum dots so important in the fields of display devices and medical imaging?</p>
<p>As technology for home and commercial use has increased in complexity, so has the resolution and contrast performance of display screens. High definition displays were introduced from 2003 to 2009 where they became the dominant display type available to the public. The successor, ultra high definition, has become today’s standard. </p>
<p>Quantum dots helped increase the range of display colours to more accurately reflect the range of colours the human eye can naturally perceive. </p>
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<p>A major problem for technology researchers was how to increase the pallet of colours and sub-colours to do this. Quantum dots give us that flexibility and control.</p>
<p>Quantum dots ultimately offer more accuracy when developing technologies because you can change their properties, such as colour, by changing their size. </p>
<p>Nanotechnology techniques allow us to create molecules of different sizes, to emit different wavelengths of light more accurately and consistently. Quantum dots are bringing us much closer to display screens that reproduce the full range of colours humans can discern. </p>
<p>Quantum dots have been a game changer for medical imaging, too. They have helped create more advanced systems for tumour detection, to study human cells, angiograms (a type of X-ray to examine blood vessels) and even camera-guided surgery and robotic surgery. </p>
<p>Researchers studying the immune system and chemical reactions in the body rely on quantum dots to illustrate their studies more accurately. </p>
<p>We still have not realised the full potential of quantum dots. They have already made their mark on the technology and medical sectors. But they also have the potential to create more accurate imaging for other sectors too, such as astronomy. They might even help create next generation solar cell technology to improve solar cell efficiency for power production.</p>
<p>Not so long ago, we didn’t know quantum dots had different frequencies. Now they are an important part of the technology in our TVs, our lights and the medical science that treats and diagnoses diseases. It’s hard to say how we will be using quantum dots in the future - the limit may be our imagination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurence Murphy consults for JVC , Pansonic and SMPTE.</span></em></p>
Quantum dot technology has also helped revolutionise medical imagining.
Laurence Murphy, Senior Lecturer & Researcher in Media Technology, University of Salford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186193
2022-10-03T12:07:51Z
2022-10-03T12:07:51Z
Nobel prizes most often go to researchers who defy specialization – winners are creative thinkers who synthesize innovations from varied fields and even hobbies
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485700/original/file-20220920-11051-rp5ijw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5700%2C3797&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Innovative ideas spring from many sources, research finds.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/network-data-transfer-speed-royalty-free-image/1379013647">Yuichiro Chino/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Experts often recommend that people <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/07/the-big-idea-the-age-of-hyperspecialization">specialize in one field of work</a> or research to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/03/09/why-leaders-must-be-experts-keys-to-success-from-ge/?sh=26db7fd12cf3">maximize their chances of success</a>. Yet our recently published research indicates that successful innovators take a broader path.</p>
<p>We looked at the careers of <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/">Nobel Prize winners</a>, who are arguably among the most innovative people in the world. We found that they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1751545">unusually likely</a> to be what we call “creative polymaths.” That is, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2051294">purposely integrate formal and informal expertise</a> from widely varied disciplines to yield new and useful ideas and practices. </p>
<p>In fact, the testimony of science laureates who were students of previous laureates suggests that creative polymathy is a skill that can be learned. We have written about some of these in our books “<a href="https://worldcat.org/title/25233880">Discovering</a>” and “<a href="https://worldcat.org/title/47906414">Sparks of Genius</a>.” </p>
<p>Many of these laureates discover problems by looking at topics in new ways, or they solve them by transferring skills, techniques and materials from one field to another. They often use <a href="https://worldcat.org/title/47906414">conceptual tools</a> such as making analogies, pattern recognition, body thinking, playacting and modeling. In one notable example, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1912/carrel/facts/">Alexis Carrel</a> won his Nobel Prize in medicine in 1912 by adapting lace-making and embroidery <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/organ-transplantation-owes-a-great-debt-to-this-19th-century-french-embroiderer">techniques to transplant surgery</a>.</p>
<h2>A psychologist, inventor and economist</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit sits behind a desk covered in books and papers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485692/original/file-20220920-9768-362gpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Herbert Simon, the 1978 Nobel Prize winner in economics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HERBERTSIMONECONOMIST/21e580304ee1da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo">AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>Herbert Simon won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1978 for “his pioneering research into <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1978/summary/">the decision-making process within economic organizations</a>.” </p>
<p>He was a professor in <a href="http://diva.library.cmu.edu/Simon/">several departments at Carnegie Mellon University</a>. His colleagues often called him a “<a href="https://publisher.abc-clio.com/9780313017049/">Renaissance man</a>” because of his vast range of interests and wide-ranging curiosity. Over the course of his career, he made major contributions to the study of computer science, artificial intelligence, psychology and philosophy, as well as economics. </p>
<p>Beyond Simon’s scholarly work, his additional interests included <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262691857/models-of-my-life/">piano playing, musical composition</a>, drawing, painting and chess.</p>
<p>He often referred to the intellectual excitement, emotional pleasure and novel insights he derived from integrating his many hobbies with his work. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262691857/models-of-my-life/">I can rationalize any activity I engage in</a> as simply another form of research on cognition,” he declared in his 1996 autobiography. He went on to add, “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262691857/models-of-my-life/">I can always view my hobbies</a> as part of my research.”</p>
<h2>A geneticist, illustrator and cookbook author</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman sits at a computer amid an office filled with images and books." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485693/original/file-20220920-15-cz6ne9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, the 1995 Nobel Prize winner in physics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/july-2020-baden-wuerttemberg-t%C3%BCbingen-christiane-n%C3%BCsslein-news-photo/1227734046">Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard combined an equally diverse range of skills to win the 1995 Nobel Prize in physiology – or medicine – which was awarded for her “<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1995/nusslein-volhard/facts/">discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development</a>.” </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1995/nusslein-volhard/interview">I’m very curious and I like to understand things</a>,” she said in a 2003 interview, “and not only science … I also did music and I did languages and literature and so on.” </p>
<p>That included forays as an <a href="https://thenode.biologists.com/interview-christiane-nusslein-volhard/interview/">illustrator, puzzle designer and author</a> of a best-selling cookbook.</p>
<p>As a science student, Nüsslein-Volhard proved equally broad-minded, trying physics, physical chemistry and biochemistry before settling on embryology. Her many professional and personal interests proved useful in coming up with new questions and techniques, and in order to produce novel results. She <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1995/nusslein-volhard/interview/">advises scholars to become similarly broad and idiosyncratic</a>.</p>
<p>In a 2017 interview, she said, “<a href="https://thenode.biologists.com/interview-christiane-nusslein-volhard/interview/">You should, as far as possible, avoid mainstream areas</a> and change fields after your Ph.D. in order to be able to develop an independent profile and work on an original, self-selected topic.”</p>
<h2>The importance of creative polymathy</h2>
<p>We have found that Carrel, Nüsslein-Volhard and Simon are typical of Nobel Prize winners – but not at all typical of most professionals. As part of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_a_E9pgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">our creativity research</a> over the past 20 years, we have gathered information about the work, hobbies and interests of 773 laureates in economics, literature, peace, physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine between 1901 and 2008. </p>
<p>We found that the vast majority of laureates have or had formal – and often also informal – education in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1751545">more than one discipline</a>, developed intensive and extensive hobbies and changed fields. Most importantly, we found, they have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2051294">intentionally sought out useful connections</a> among their diverse activities as a formal strategy for stimulating creativity.</p>
<p>Our analysis finds that scientists who win a Nobel Prize are about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1751545">nine times more likely</a> to have training in crafts such as wood- and metalworking or fine arts than the typical scientist.</p>
<p>And unlike most social scientists or other students of the humanities, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1751545">Nobel laureates in economics</a> are almost universally trained in mathematics, physics or astronomy. Nobel Prize winners in literature are about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1751545">three times as likely</a> to be fine artists and 20 times as likely to be actors than members of the general public.</p>
<p>In sharp contrast to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12759v2">typical professionals</a> who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj0802_2">view their hobbies as irrelevant</a> or even detrimental to their work, Nobel laureates perceive their varied interests and hobbies as important stimulants.</p>
<p>As playwright and actor Dario Fo, winner of the 1997 Nobel for literature, and also a painter, put it in an interview: “<a href="https://donaldfriedman.com/books/the-writers-brush/">Sometimes I draw my plays</a> before I write them, and other times, when I’m having difficulty with a play, I stop writing so that I can draw out the action in pictures to solve the problem.”</p>
<p>We have found that most Nobel laureates have made equivalent statements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A metal circle with a man's profile cast on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485699/original/file-20220920-18-xy06q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leonardo da Vinci, depicted on this medallion, was a famous polymath during the European Renaissance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/medalion-depicting-leonardo-da-vinci-leonardo-di-ser-piero-news-photo/1414123095">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fostering creative polymathy</h2>
<p>We believe it is possible to foster the fruitful interaction of wide-ranging interests. One study found that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279985369_Double_Majors_Influences_Identities_and_Impacts">people who double major in college</a> are more likely to exhibit creative behaviors or become entrepreneurs than people who majored in one subject. </p>
<p>Another research study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1202_1">having a persistent, intellectually challenging hobby</a> – such as musical performance, acting, visual art exhibition, competitive chess or computer programming – is a better predictor of career success in any field than are grades, standardized test scores or IQ. Similarly, our own research has found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807189116">science professionals with persistent crafts hobbies</a> are significantly <a href="https://doi.org/10.21300/20.3.2019.197">more likely to file patents</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891242413486186">set up new companies</a> than those without.</p>
<p>In our view, an increasingly complex and diverse world needs not only specialized experts but also creative generalists – the polymathic types who specialize in the breadth and integration that drive knowledge beyond what people already believe is possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Some of the most innovative people in the world earn Nobel Prizes. Scholars of creativity identify what they have in common and what regular people can learn and emulate from their examples.
Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology, Michigan State University
Michele Root-Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Theater, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184909
2022-07-07T13:31:42Z
2022-07-07T13:31:42Z
Wole Soyinka’s life of writing holds Nigeria up for scrutiny
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472982/original/file-20220707-22-pu1vdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known simply as Wole Soyinka, can’t be easily described. He is a teacher, an ideologue, a scholar and an iconoclast, an elder statesman, a patriot and a culturalist. </p>
<p>The Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet and essayist is a giant among his contemporaries. In 1986, he became the first sub-Saharan African, and is one of only <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-literature/">five</a> Africans, to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature. This was in recognition of the way he <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1986/soyinka/facts/">“fashions the drama of existence”</a>. </p>
<p>His works reveal him as a humanist, a courageous man and a lover of justice. His symbolism, flashbacks and ingenious plotting contribute to a rich dramatic structure. His best works exhibit humour and fine poetic style as well as a gift for irony and satire. These accurately match the language of his complex characters to their social position and moral qualities.</p>
<p>His works have such impact that some of them are used in schools in Nigeria and some other anglophone countries in West Africa. Some have also been translated into <a href="https://www.amazon.com/French-Wole-Soyinka-Foreign-Language-Books/s?rh=n%3A3151541%2Cp_lbr_one_browse-bin%3AWole+Soyinka">French</a>. </p>
<h2>Life and activism</h2>
<p>Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria, on 13 July 1934. His parents were Samuel Ayodele Soyinka and Grace Eniola Soyinka. He had his primary education at St Peter’s Primary School in Abeokuta. In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan, and subsequently University College Ibadan (now the University of Ibadan) and the University of Leeds in England.</p>
<p>He was jailed in 1967 for speaking out against Nigeria’s civil war over the attempted secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Soyinka was also incarcerated for taking over the radio station of the disbanded Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Ibadan to announce his rejection of the 1965 Western Nigerian election results. </p>
<p>He joined other activists and democrats to form the National Democratic Coalition to fight for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. </p>
<p>He now lives in <a href="https://decorhubng.com/inside-wole-soyinkas-abeokuta-forest-house/">Abeokuta</a>.</p>
<h2>Themes and style</h2>
<p>My first contact with Soyinka was in secondary school when we were made to read his play Lion and the Jewel. Some of my classmates then felt he was difficult to read and assimilate. I later found out Lion and the Jewel was actually one of the simplest titles. </p>
<p>Soyinka’s works often address the clash of cultures, the interface between primitiveness and modernity, colonial interventions, religious bigotry, corruption, abuse of power, poor governance, poverty and the future of independent African nations. His themes have remained constant over time and many African states are still grappling with issues he has raised since the 1950s. </p>
<p>Through his works, I discovered that he has deep knowledge and understanding of his mother tongue, Yoruba. For instance, in Death and the King’s Horseman and other plays, we see Yoruba wisecracks, philosophy and proverbs translated into his language of communication, English. These enrich his writings. </p>
<p>I find the changing forms of his creative works interesting in spite of the unchanging content of the narratives or drama. Read King Baabu or The Beatification of the Area Boy and Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth to observe the change in Soyinka’s style. </p>
<h2>Forms of writing</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.biblio.com/wole-soyinka/author/291">Soyinka’s plays</a> cut across diverse socio-economic, political, cultural and religious preoccupations. A Dance of the Forests, one of the most recognised plays, was written and presented in 1960 to celebrate Nigeria’s independence. It reflects on the ugly past and projects into a blossoming future. </p>
<p>His 1965 play Kongi’s Harvest premiered in Dakar, Senegal in 1966 at the first Negro Arts Festival. The lead character, Kongi, was played by Soyinka himself. It deals with themes of corruption, ego and paranoia. The lead character, Kongi, is the archetype of dictatorship globally. He suppresses all voices of reason, revelling in his illusion of power and thinking no one can stop him – until he meets a tragic end. </p>
<p>Other plays depict clashes of culture between white influence, colonial values and black African orientations. Soyinka never blames but dramatises the evil people do through characters with impact, strong plots, accurate settings and language.</p>
<p>Soyinka has written only three novels: The Interpreters (1965), Season of Anomy (1973) and Chronicles from the Land of Happiest People on Earth (2021), which came almost 50 years after his last. The novels focus mainly on Nigeria and its many ills, including corruption, religious bigotry and inept governance. </p>
<p>The characters in the first two novels have dreams which are sometimes dashed through a tragic truncation of their lives. The latest captures contemporary Nigeria, the Nigerian diaspora and the myths of an ever-crawling giant. It paints a picture of things going wrong for the country.</p>
<p>Certain poems stand out among <a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/wole-soyinka/">Soyinka’s collection</a>. These are Telephone Conversation and Abiku. The former uses humour to talk about the serious issue of an African experiencing racism as a new student in a British university. The latter comments on Nigeria’s inability to develop; the poet explores the futility of life. </p>
<p>Soyinka’s non-fiction includes The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972), his autobiography, Ake: The Years of Childhood (1981), Isara: A Voyage Around Essay (1990), Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years (1989) and You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006). In these works he has narrated how the story of his life and his family intertwines with the fate of Nigeria. </p>
<p>As an essayist and intellectual, he has highlighted the specific failings of individuals in the Nigerian polity. Soyinka is not afraid of mentioning names of people he writes about, nor the wrongdoings he is accusing them of. </p>
<p>These works include Myth, Literature and the African World (1976), Art, Dialogue, and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture (1988), The Black Man and the Veil: Beyond the Berlin Wall (1990) and The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis (1996).</p>
<p>They are essays that have contributed to Soyinka’s status as a global intellectual.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abayomi Awelewa received funding from the American Council of Learned Society (ACLS) for his Africa Humanities Program (AHP) Fellowship.</span></em></p>
Wole Soyinka’s writing has explored the same themes for decades.
Abayomi Awelewa, Lecturer in African and African Diasporan Literature, University of Lagos
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169564
2021-10-08T14:51:21Z
2021-10-08T14:51:21Z
Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account
<p>The importance of journalists who take considerable risks to bring people the truth in countries where this involves going up against authoritarian governments has been recognised by the Nobel committee’s decision to <a href="https://theconversation.com/philippines-rodrigo-dutertes-dictatorship-sinks-to-new-depths-with-closure-of-main-broadcaster-138025">award the 2021 peace prize</a> to Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia.</p>
<p>In announcing the award, the Nobel committee called the pair “representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal”. They said Ressa had used her online news organisation, Rappler, to “expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines”.</p>
<p>Rappler, which grew out of a Facebook page launched in 2012 and has become one of the Philippines’ most credible independent news services, has been targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte since his election in 2016. His 2017 state of the union speech alleged that Rappler was in foreign ownership, which would be contrary to the constitution. He also said it peddled “fake news”. </p>
<p>Government investigations followed and, by 2018, Ressa and Rappler were inundated with charges of cybercrime, tax evasion and as much intimidation as the Duterte government could muster. </p>
<p>This harassment took place against a backdrop of presidentially sanctioned murder in the form of Duterte’s “war on drugs” (which the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rodrigo-duterte-why-the-iccs-investigation-will-not-guarantee-a-fairer-or-safer-philippines-163089">International Criminal Court is now investigating</a>) which led to the deaths of over 20,000 people, including journalists around the country. Ressa was not cowed by intimidation and threats. Time magazine named her one of its Person of the Year winners in 2018 alongside other journalists facing oppression around the world. </p>
<p>When she was arrested for the first time, in 2019 at the age of 56, the country’s most prominent journalist was made to spend a night behind bars, a low point for civil society in the Philippines. Ressa and her Rappler colleagues continue to work under the threat of imprisonment. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen if the award of the Nobel peace prize will shield Ressa and Rappler from further targeting, and whether the election, scheduled for May 2022, will bring any relief from government harassment and threats. </p>
<h2>Thorn in Duterte’s side</h2>
<p>Long before Duterte was elected, Ressa was an established figure in Filipino public life. She had been the face of CNN in the Philippines as its bureau chief from 1987-1995 and then as an investigative reporter for CNN, where she focused on terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 across southeast Asia. </p>
<p>In 2004, she joined major Philippines-based media company ABS-CBN and for six years helped grow it into the major news network in the country (its broadcast operations were <a href="https://theconversation.com/philippines-rodrigo-dutertes-dictatorship-sinks-to-new-depths-with-closure-of-main-broadcaster-138025">shut down by Duterte in 2020</a>). It is with great credit to Ressa that her influence is so strong across the news media landscape in the Philippines where younger journalists continue to follow her advice and example.</p>
<p>This is not the first time Maria Ressa has won a major international award. She received the <a href="https://www.ndi.org/our-stories/2017-democracy-dinner-explores-global-threat-disinformation">2017 Democracy Award</a>, the 2018 <a href="https://www.icfj.org/maria-ressa-accepts-2018-knight-international-journalism-award#:%7E:text=Maria%20Ressa%20Accepts%20the%202018,Award%20%7C%20International%20Center%20for%20Journalists">Knight International Journalism Award</a> and, also in 2018, the <a href="http://www.blog.wan-ifra.org/articles/2018/05/31/2018-golden-pen-of-freedom-awarded-to-maria-ressa-of-the-philippines">World Association of Newspapers’s Golden Pen of Freedom Award</a> and the <a href="https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/maria-ressa-wins-2018-gwen-ifill-press-freedom-award-in-new-york/">Committee to Protect Journalists’ Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award</a>. Her trials over recent years have regularly garnered public attention and condemnation from across the world from <a href="https://twitter.com/madeleine/status/1095787071862640648?lang=en">leading figures</a> and <a href="https://rsf.org/en/news/dismay-over-philippine-journalist-maria-ressas-prison-sentence">organisations</a>. </p>
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<h2>Peace Prize premium?</h2>
<p>Despite this, the Duterte government has continued to stifle dissent and attack less prominent journalists in the more remote provinces of the Philippines who continue to investigate corruption and violence under the direct threat of violence and intimidation. Hopefully the Nobel prize will put pressure on presidential candidates in the 2022 election to speak on the issue of press freedom and make it a campaign issue. The award also means that foreign governments calibrating new relations with the next administration have a symbol to rally around. </p>
<p>In 2019, I was a delegate at the UK and Canadian governments’ <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/global-conference-for-media-freedom-london-2019">Global Conference for Media Freedom</a> in London. I had the opportunity to briefly meet Maria and her lawyer Amal Clooney. There were a lot of strong sentiments and good words expressed that day from government officials as they listened to stories like those from the Philippines. </p>
<p>The whole event rung hollow when, toward the end of the day, news broke of the murder of radio news anchor <a href="https://cpj.org/data/people/eduardo-dizon/">Eduardo Dizon</a>, a journalist with Brigada News FM in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. But by handing this award to brave journalists like Ressa and Muratov, the Nobel committee is proclaiming the value, not only of their work, but of all journalists who take risks to hold power to account.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
How Maria Ressa grew a Facebook page into the Philippines’ most credible independent news services in the face of government intimidation.
Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations & Academic Director of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, University of Portsmouth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169493
2021-10-08T12:27:11Z
2021-10-08T12:27:11Z
None of the 2021 science Nobel laureates are women – here’s why men still dominate STEM award winning
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425281/original/file-20211007-18946-pf7buf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1223%2C321%2C7020%2C5166&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Frances Arnold received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nobelprize.qbank.se/mb/?h=7f34a741c65f2309fcc548afd9fd944e&_ga=2.87363736.1458753097.1633524725-438278705.1633524725">© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>All of the 2021 Nobel Prizes in science were awarded to men. </p>
<p>That’s a return to business as usual after a couple of good years for female laureates. In 2020, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/charpentier/facts/">Emmanuelle Charpentier</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/doudna/facts/">Jennifer Doudna</a> won the chemistry prize for their work on the CRISPR gene editing system, and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/ghez/facts/">Andrea Ghez</a> shared in the physics prize for her discovery of a supermassive black hole.</p>
<p>2019 was another year of all male laureates, after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/arnold/facts/">biochemical engineer Frances Arnold</a> won in 2018 for chemistry and Donna Strickland received the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/strickland/facts/">2018 Nobel Prize in physics</a>. </p>
<p>Strickland and Ghez were only the third and fourth female physicists to get a Nobel, following <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/facts/">Marie Curie in 1903</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/facts/">Maria Goeppert-Mayer 60 years later</a>. When asked how that felt, Strickland noted that at first it was surprising to realize so few women had won the award: “But, I mean, I do live in a world of mostly men, so seeing mostly men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653779921/donna-strickland-becomes-first-woman-in-more-than-50-years-to-win-physics-nobel-">doesn’t really ever surprise me either</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-10-09/only-20-nobels-sciences-have-gone-women-why">rarity of female Nobel laureates</a> raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science and the <a href="https://thebestschools.org/magazine/brilliant-woman-greedy-men/">undervaluing of women’s contributions on science teams</a>. Women researchers have come a long way over the past century, but there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that those women who persist in these careers face explicit and implicit barriers to advancement. Bias is most intense in fields that are dominated by men, where women lack a critical mass of representation and are often viewed as tokens or outsiders. This bias is even more intense for transgender women and nonbinary individuals.</p>
<p>As things are getting better in terms of equal representation, what still holds women back in the lab, in leadership and as award winners?</p>
<h2>Good news at the start of the pipeline</h2>
<p>Traditional stereotypes hold that women “don’t like math” and “aren’t good at science.” Both <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/both-genders-think-women-are-bad-basic-math">men and women report these viewpoints</a>, but researchers have <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/share.aspx">empirically disputed them</a>. Studies show that girls and women avoid STEM education not because of cognitive inability, but because of early exposure and experience with STEM, educational policy, cultural context, stereotypes and a lack of exposure to role models. </p>
<p>For the past several decades, efforts to improve the representation of women in STEM fields have focused on countering these stereotypes with <a href="http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/igen/">educational reforms</a> and <a href="https://girlswhocode.com/">individual</a> <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383">programs</a> that can increase the number of girls entering and staying in what’s been called the STEM pipeline – the path from K-12 to college and postgraduate training.</p>
<p><iframe id="qE27X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qE27X/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These approaches are working. Women are increasingly likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012002908">express an interest in STEM careers and pursue STEM majors</a> in college. Women now make up half or more of workers in psychology and social sciences and are increasingly represented in the scientific workforce, though computer and mathematical sciences are an exception. </p>
<p>According to the American Institute of Physics, women earn about 20% of bachelor’s degrees and 18% of Ph.D.s in physics, <a href="https://www.aip.org/taxonomy/term/155">an increase from 1975</a> when women earned 10% of bachelor’s degrees and 5% of Ph.D.s in physics.</p>
<p>More women are graduating with STEM Ph.D.s and earning faculty positions. But they encounter glass cliffs and ceilings as they advance through their academic careers.</p>
<h2>What’s not working for women</h2>
<p>Women face a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">structural and institutional barriers</a> in academic STEM careers.</p>
<p>In addition to issues related to the gender pay gap, the structure of academic science often makes it difficult for women to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135943974">get ahead in the workplace</a> and to balance work and life commitments. Bench science can require years of dedicated time in a laboratory. The strictures of the tenure-track process can make maintaining work-life balance, responding to family obligations and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-todays-long-stem-postdoc-positions-are-effectively-anti-mother-51550">having children</a> or taking family leave difficult, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711417730">if not impossible</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, working in male-dominated workplaces can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">leave women feeling isolated</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777808">perceived as tokens</a> and susceptible to <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic">harassment</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010344929577">Women often are excluded</a> from networking opportunities and social events, left to feel they’re outside the culture of the lab, the academic department and the field.</p>
<p>When women lack a critical mass in a workplace – making up about 15% or more of workers – they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2884712">less empowered to advocate for themselves</a> and more likely to be perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08353.x">a minority group and an exception</a>. When in this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9454-2">take on extra service</a> as tokens on committees or <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ghost-Advising/242729">mentors to female graduate students</a>.</p>
<p>With fewer female colleagues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917735900">women are less likely</a> to build relationships with female collaborators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0256-y">support and advice networks</a>. This isolation can be exacerbated when women are unable to participate in work events or <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/02/07/conferences-should-be-more-family-friendly-women-scholars-children-opinion">attend conferences because of family or child care</a> responsibilities, and because of an inability to use research funds to reimburse child care.</p>
<p>Universities, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/10000/Increasing_Women_s_Leadership_in_Academic.23.aspx">professional associations</a> and federal funders have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20225">worked to address a variety</a> of these structural barriers. Efforts include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary reporting, enforcing Title IX protections, providing mentoring and support programs for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement. These programs have had mixed results. </p>
<p>For example, research indicates that family-friendly policies such as leave and onsite child care <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006">can exacerbate gender inequity</a>, resulting in increased research productivity for men and increased teaching and service obligations for women.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People haven’t really updated their mental images of what a scientist looks like since Wilhelm Roentgen won the first physics Nobel in 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sftaf5z8">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Implicit biases about who does science</h2>
<p>All of us – the general public, the media, university employees, students and professors – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">ideas of what a scientist</a> and a Nobel Prize winner look like. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13039">That image</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">predominantly male, white and older</a> – which makes sense given 96% of the science Nobel Prize winners have been men.</p>
<p>This is an example of an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/">implicit bias</a>: one of the unconscious, involuntary, natural, unavoidable assumptions that all of us – men and women – form about the world. People make decisions <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">based on subconscious assumptions, preferences and stereotypes</a> – sometimes even when they are counter to their explicitly held beliefs.</p>
<p>Research shows that an implicit bias against women <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-scientist-looks-like/">as experts and academic scientists</a> is pervasive. It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship. </p>
<p>Implicit bias can work against women’s hiring, advancement and recognition of their work. For instance, women seeking academic jobs are more likely to be viewed and judged based on <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2018/preliminary/paper/nZ24K7b2">personal information and physical appearance</a>. Letters of recommendation for women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1">more likely to raise doubts</a> and use language that results in negative career outcomes.</p>
<p>Implicit bias can affect women’s ability to publish research findings and gain recognition for that work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903">Men cite their own papers 56% more</a> than women do. Known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">Matilda Effect</a>,” there is a gender gap in recognition, award-winning and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations">citations</a>. </p>
<p>Women’s research is less likely to be cited by others, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R7AQT1">ideas are more likely to be attributed to men</a>. Women’s solo-authored research takes <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/20/study-finds-women-economics-write-papers-are-more-readable-face-longer-publication">twice as long</a> to move through the review process. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06678-6">Women are underrepresented</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12950">journal editorships</a>, as senior scholars and lead authors, and as peer reviewers. This marginalization in research gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.</p>
<p>When a woman becomes a world-class scientist, implicit bias works <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00739-17">against the likelihood</a> that she will be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/women-are-invited-to-give-fewer-talks-than-men-at-top-us-universities/548657/">invited as a keynote or guest speaker</a> to share her research findings, thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198">lowering both her visibility in the field</a> and the likelihood that she will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">nominated for awards</a>. This gender imbalance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517000580">notable in how infrequently</a> <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2017/11/17/we-need-more-womens-voices-in-the-news.html">women experts</a> are <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/lack-female-sources-ny-times-front-page-stories-highlights-need-change">quoted in news stories</a> on most topics.</p>
<p>Women scientists are afforded less of the respect and recognition that should come with their accomplishments. Research shows that when people talk about male scientists and experts, they’re more likely to use their surnames and more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805284115">refer to women by their first names</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this matter? Because experiments show that individuals referred to by their surnames are more likely to be viewed as famous and eminent. In fact, one study found that calling scientists by their last names led people to consider them 14% more deserving of a National Science Foundation career award.</p>
<p>Seeing men as prize winners has been the history of science, but it’s not all bad news. Recent research finds that in the biomedical sciences, women are making significant gains in winning more awards, though on average these awards are typically <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/02/research-women-are-winning-more-scientific-prizes-but-men-still-win-the-most-prestigious-ones">less prestigious and have lower monetary value</a>.</p>
<p>Addressing structural and implicit bias in STEM will hopefully prevent another half-century wait before the next woman is acknowledged with a Nobel Prize for her contribution to physics. I look forward to the day when a woman receiving the most prestigious award in science is newsworthy only for her science and not her gender.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-more-women-dont-win-science-nobels-104370">an article originally published</a> on Oct. 5, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary K. Feeney is Program Director for the National Science Foundation's Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact (SoS:DCI) program.</span></em></p>
Science fields are improving at being more inclusive. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Mary K. Feeney, Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/154459
2021-02-08T13:38:34Z
2021-02-08T13:38:34Z
The military coup in Myanmar presents opportunities to Buddhist nationalists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382307/original/file-20210203-13-17e18pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C8%2C2641%2C1735&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters wave national and military flags in Yangon, Myanmar after the military staged a coup.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Myanmar/976e5558d9f4471eaaeb84488581c1b6/photo?Query=myanmar%20coup%20suu&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=79&currentItemNo=33">AP Photo/Thein Zaw</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The military’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55882938">seizure of power in Myanmar</a> and the detention of head of government Aung San Suu Kyi is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644932?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">far from the first time generals in the country have interfered in national politics</a>.</p>
<p>Myanmar’s military has held a prominent political position in the country for decades. For almost 50 years – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12990563">between 1962 and 2011 – the country was under successive military regimes</a>. </p>
<p>These regimes displayed an ambivalent attitude to the country’s main religion, Buddhism – Buddhist movements, which were on the whole in opposition to military rule, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645106?seq=1">were severely repressed</a>. At the same time the military drew a significant level of legitimacy from nationalism, which in Myanmar is intrinsically linked to Buddhism.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/hardig.cfm">scholars of</a> <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/sajjad.cfm">international relations</a> who examine social movements, identity formation and conflict, we have studied the evolution and growth of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar. While these groups might not be reliable allies for the military, they are a powerful force with a large grassroots base.</p>
<h2>Emergence of a Buddhist nationalism</h2>
<p>Myanmar is ethnically diverse. Its government officially recognizes <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/14/myanmar-major-ethnic-groups-and-where-they-live">135 ethnic groups</a>. In terms of religion, there is a <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/census-data-shows-myanmar-muslim-population-has-fallen/612764">sizable presence of Christian and Muslim minorities</a>, but close to 90% of the population identifies as Buddhists.</p>
<p>The roots of Buddhist nationalism go back to the country’s <a href="https://theasiadialogue.com/2019/03/08/myanmar-nationalism-the-monks-the-military-and-the-muslims/">colonial past</a>. Myanmar came under <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40241058?seq=1">British colonial rule in 1824</a>. The colonial administration withdrew traditional state support for monasteries, promoted secular education, suppressed Buddhist practices and encouraged Christian missionary activity. </p>
<p>Under colonial rule, the British often moved local populations to different colonies. In Myanmar – <a href="https://www.usip.org/blog/2018/06/whats-name-burma-or-myanmar">called Burma under British rule, but changed by the military after crushing the pro-democracy movement in 1989 </a> – the colonists brought in Hindu and Muslim Indians to serve in the colonial administration. </p>
<p>This resulted in Indian businessmen dominating <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/290-buddhism-and-state-power-myanmar">some sectors of the economy</a>. The British also <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-persecution-of-myanmars-rohingya-84040">promoted migrant labor to increase rice cultivation and profits</a>. Between 1871 and 1911, the <a href="https://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64388.pdf">Muslim population tripled</a>.</p>
<p>Each of these factors generated significant resentment among the majority Buddhist population. In the 1930s, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/burmese-family-amnesia/557228/">violence erupted between Burmese and people of Indian descent</a>. Muslims, in particular, were cast as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14639947.2015.1008090?journalCode=rcbh20">a threat to the local way of life</a>. </p>
<p>In 1948, Myanmar gained independence from British rule. But for the next 14 years, the country struggled with <a href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/08/01/government-could-have-stopped">armed ethnic conflict and political instability</a>.</p>
<p>During military rule, Buddhist groups were <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645106?seq=1">violently repressed</a>. In 2007, some <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/saffron-revolution-good-monk-myth/541116/">80,000 Buddhist monks came out in protest against the military government’s decision to stop subsidies of fuel</a>. This became known as the “Saffron Revolution.” The revolution itself was put down by the military regime, but experts believe it <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/saffron/">might have helped usher in the era of democratization</a> which began in 2011. </p>
<p>It was at this time Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, or NLD, and daughter of Myanmar’s independence leader, General Aung San, was released from <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11685977">nearly 15 years in detention</a>.</p>
<h2>Resurgence of Buddhist nationalism</h2>
<p>The current crisis unfolds in an environment of heightened tensions between Buddhist nationalists and minority groups. Since 2011, Myanmar has been troubled by an upsurge in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/world/asia/buddhism-militant-rise.html">extreme Buddhist nationalism, anti-Muslim hate speech and deadly communal violence</a>. </p>
<p>This surge was not coincidental. The military-appointed government that led the democratic transition between 2011 and 2016 <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0048721X.2019.1610810">lifted restrictions on speech and assembly</a>, allowing Buddhist monks to engage politically. The most prominent of the nationalist groups was the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, commonly referred to by its Burmese language acronym, MaBaTha, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/290-buddhism-and-state-power-myanmar">led by Buddhist monks</a>.</p>
<p>Because of its highly decentralized nature, estimates of their membership vary greatly, but it is believed to have between <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/women-myanmar-buddhist-nationalist-movement/">20,000 and 80,000 members in Yangon</a>, the capital of Myanmar, alone.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Buddhist nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, Monks, Myanmar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382310/original/file-20210203-19-ejuw6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Monks belonging to the outlawed Buddhist nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, in Mandalay, Myanmar in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MyanmarBuddhistNationalists/4e447cd9b47f4a6f80732cb825c5eacf/photo?Query=buddhist%20nationalists%20myanmar&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=167&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Hkun Lat, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The MaBaTha Movement became an increasingly destabilizing actor, particularly in their vocal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/03/revealed-facebook-hate-speech-exploded-in-myanmar-during-rohingya-crisis">campaign against the Rohingya</a>, and Suu Kyi’s government tried to curtail its growth by <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/ban-05232017152958.html">outlawing it in 2017</a>. This did little to stop the movement’s growth, as it simply <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/faced-with-ban-myanmar-hardline-ma-ba-tha-monks-change-name">rebranded itself as the Buddha Dhamma Philanthropy Foundation</a> and encouraged its followers to continue their work under that name. </p>
<h2>Nationalism and its broad appeal</h2>
<p>The nationalist rhetoric found appeal among <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/women-myanmar-buddhist-nationalist-movement/">wide swaths of the Buddhist population</a>, and made Buddhist nationalism an important social force in Myanmar. In 2017, during the violent military crackdown on the Rohingya, there was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19683?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">significant popular support for their actions among Myanmar’s Buddhists</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy are not blameless when it comes to encouragement of a certain type of Buddhist nationalism. In the run up to the 2015 elections, no Muslim appeared on the ballot for the ruling party or the opposition. The National League for Democracy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/03/no-vote-no-candidates-myanmars-muslims-barred-from-their-own-election">did not allow Muslims to run as political candidates</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, the National League for Democracy actively participated in the attempts to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/why-aung-san-suu-kyi-isnt-protecting-the-rohingya-in-burma/2017/09/15/c88b10fa-9900-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html">discredit reports of atrocities committed against the Rohingya</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this, many nationalists in Myanmar believe that Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy are “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-protest/myanmar-nationalists-hold-pro-military-rally-amid-tensions-with-government-idUSKBN2030EI">weak” protectors of Buddhism</a>. </p>
<h2>Return to military rule</h2>
<p>The military coup came as the new parliament was set to hold its first session since the November elections. Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy had <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54899170%20in%20the%20elections">won a substantive victory</a>. The main opposition to the National League for Democracy, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, or the USDP, has military support.</p>
<p>While there are no formal ties between the Union Solidarity and Development Party and Buddhist nationalist groups, the party’s rhetoric in the 2020 election campaign <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/myanmars-aggressive-nationalism-in-the-air-ahead-of-2020-elections/">certainly courted them</a>. They adopted the nationalist theme of “<a href="https://globalvoices.org/2020/11/06/myanmar-candidates-and-parties-turn-to-religious-nationalism-ahead-of-november-8-elections/">protecting” religion, portraying the National League for Democracy as a “religion-destroying” party</a>. </p>
<p>Following the election, the Union Solidarity and Development Party accused the National League for Democracy of election fraud, but offered very little evidence to that effect. In this context of heightened tension and <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/focus-facebook-faces-a-reckoning-in-myanmar-after-blocked-by-military-2021-02-04">misinformation spreading online</a>, the military made their move to seize power. </p>
<p>In addition to the nationalist rhetoric centering on religion, another sign that the military seeks the support of Buddhist nationalists is that among the many civil society actors arrested are <a href="https://www.csw.org.uk/2021/02/03/press/4967/article.htm">three Buddhist monks who have been outspoken critics</a> of both the military and the extreme Buddhist nationalist groups. This signals to Buddhist nationalists that their rivals from within the Buddhist monk community are also seen as a threat to the military. But Buddhist nationalists might not be reliable allies for the military. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/09/22/resistance-monks/buddhism-and-activism-burma">As history shows</a>, they will not support a military regime unless it caters to their interests.</p>
<p>[_<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-important">The Conversation’s most important election and politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The roots of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar go back to colonial days. Those behind the military coup are seeking to harness it to legitimize the seizure of power.
Anders C. Hardig, Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service
Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145799
2020-09-29T17:29:51Z
2020-09-29T17:29:51Z
Nobel Prizes have a diversity problem even worse than the scientific fields they honor
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360384/original/file-20200928-20-7mjeh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=255%2C166%2C2523%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mostly male, white faces up on stage at the Nobel Prize award ceremony.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/press#/image-details/5df22f2814ad00100009440f/552bd85dccc8e20c00e7f979">© Nobel Media/Alexander Mahmoud</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2007, I served as a consultant for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ deliberations about the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As a result, I was invited to attend the Nobel ceremonies. Staying at the Grand Hotel with all the awardees, I got to see how scientists – excellent but largely unknown outside their fields – suddenly became superstars.</p>
<p>As soon as they’re announced annually in early October, Nobel laureates become role models who are invited to give seminars all around the world. In Stockholm for the awards, these scientists were interviewed on radio and television and hobnobbed with Swedish royalty. Swedish television aired the events of Nobel week live.</p>
<p>As a chemist who has also <a href="http://prometheusbooks.com/books/9781633886407">investigated how science is done</a>, seeing scientists and their research jump to the top of the public’s consciousness thanks to all the Nobel hoopla is gratifying. But in the 119 years since the Nobel Prizes were first given out, only 3% of the science awardees have been women and <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-black-scientist-has-ever-won-a-nobel-thats-bad-for-science-and-bad-for-society-104456">zero of the 617 science laureates have been Black</a>. The vast majority of those now-famous role model scientists are white men.</p>
<p>This is a problem much larger than simply bias on the part of the Nobel selection committees – it’s systemic.</p>
<h2>Nobels still reflect another time</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="seated portrait of Nobel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alfred Nobel established the prizes to honor those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlfredNobel_adjusted.jpg">Gösta Florman/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Five Nobel Prizes were established according to inventor <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/">Alfred Nobel’s will</a>. The first prizes in chemistry, literature, physics and medicine were awarded in 1901. Each prize can be awarded to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fair-is-it-for-just-three-people-to-receive-the-nobel-prize-in-physics-85161">no more than three people</a>, and prizes may not be awarded posthumously.</p>
<p>Just as with the Oscars for the movie industry, there is pre-Nobel buzz. Scientists try to predict who will be awarded the year’s chemistry, physics and medicine prizes. In the days and weeks following the announcement of the awards, there is a thorough analysis of the winners and their research, as well as sympathizing with those who were overlooked.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take a very detailed investigation to see that women and Black scientists are not proportionally represented among the laureates, that the United States is home to more winners than most countries and that China has surprisingly few science Nobel laureates.</p>
<p>Nomination to receive a Nobel Prize in science or medicine is by invitation only, and information about the nomination and selection process cannot be revealed until 50 years have passed. Despite this confidentiality, based on the list of laureates it’s clear that nominations tend to favor scientists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_university_affiliation#Top_20_universities_worldwide_since_2000">working at elite research institutions</a>, famous scientists who are good at self-promotion and those well known to their peers. Predictably, these tend to be older, established white men.</p>
<p>The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute are in charge of selecting the Nobel winners for chemistry and physics, and for medicine, respectively. They’re aware that they have a “white male problem,” and starting with the 2019 nominations have asked <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02988-5">nominators to consider diversity in gender, geography and topic</a>. One year in, it hasn’t yet been reflected on the dais. There were no Black or female award recipients in physics, chemistry or medicine at the December 2019 Nobel ceremonies.</p>
<p>So what’s going on? Why does the list of Nobel laureates seem to mirror the scientists of Alfred Nobel’s day more than the world in 2020?</p>
<h2>STEM is more diverse than Nobels, but….</h2>
<p>A 2017 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics report shows that while white men make up only one-third of the U.S. population, they constitute <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_303.70.asp">at least half of all scientists</a>.</p>
<p>There’s no good reason students from underrepresented groups wouldn’t start out aspiring to careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields at the same rates as their nonminority peers. But minorities, who comprise 30% of the U.S. population, make up <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/downloads/%20nsf17310-digest.pdf">only 14% of master’s students and just 6% of all Ph.D. candidates</a>. In 2017, there were more than a dozen areas in which not a single Ph.D. was awarded to a Black person, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/lack-of-black-doctoral-students/587413/">these are primarily within the STEM fields</a>. Only 1.6% of chemistry professors at the top 50 U.S. schools are Black. This gap hasn’t changed much in the <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/">last 15 years</a>. There are not enough Black full professors in the sciences at elite universities where the networks and reputations critical for winning a Nobel are made.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three tweens work together in a robotics competition" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporting the STEM interests of students from all demographics will help plug the ‘leaky pipeline’ from school to science career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aurora-frontier-p-8-team-members-order-of-the-silver-wings-news-photo/614903410">Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are many reasons for these dismal numbers: <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633886407/The-State-of-Science-What-the-Future-Holds-and-the-Scientists-Making-It-Happen">poverty, sub-par preparation in largely minority-serving schools of all levels</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2012.0055">scarcity of role models and mentors</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487">Stereotype threat</a>, in which negative stereotypes lead to academic underperformance, can kick in, as can impostor syndrome, when a person feels inadequate despite evident success. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02175-y">Blatant discrimination</a> and numerous <a href="https://theconversation.com/microaggressions-arent-just-innocent-blunders-new-research-links-them-with-racial-bias-145894">microaggressions</a> can also prevent scientists from minority groups from performing to their potential.</p>
<p>Though women make up more than half of the general population, they too count as an <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/cwsem/women-in-science-and-engineering-statistics">underrepresented group in many STEM disciplines</a>. Just three women out of 213 physics Nobel laureates is obviously a disproportionately low number. Only five women have won in chemistry, and 12 in medicine. It’s hard not to think that many distinguished and immensely qualified female scientists must have been overlooked over more than a century of prizes.</p>
<p>The list of STEM Nobel laureates since 1901 sends the wrong message to young people, funding agencies, editorial boards and others about who does noteworthy science. Perhaps much more important, it is indicative of many biases and inequities that plague women and minorities in science. Colleges and universities host <a href="https://www.insightintodiversity.com/heres-the-full-list-of-2019-inspiring-programs-in-stem-award-winners/">programs to support underrepresented groups in the sciences</a>, but they are just Band-Aids on much bigger systemic issues in society. Without economic equity and educational parity, it will be hard to achieve Nobel diversity.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Zimmer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
With 3% of science Nobels going to women and zero going to Black people, these awards are an extreme example of how certain demographics are underrepresented in STEM fields.
Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/125096
2019-10-10T23:32:58Z
2019-10-10T23:32:58Z
Why don’t more women win science Nobels?
<p>All of the 2019 Nobel Prizes in science were awarded to men. </p>
<p>That’s a return to business as usual, after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/arnold/facts/">biochemical engineer Frances Arnold</a> won in 2018, for chemistry, and Donna Strickland received the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/strickland/facts/">2018 Nobel Prize in physics</a>. </p>
<p>Strickland was only the third female physicist to get a Nobel, following <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/facts/">Marie Curie in 1903</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/facts/">Maria Goeppert-Mayer 60 years later</a>. When asked how that felt, she noted that at first it was surprising to realize so few women had won the award: “But, I mean, I do live in a world of mostly men, so seeing mostly men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653779921/donna-strickland-becomes-first-woman-in-more-than-50-years-to-win-physics-nobel-">doesn’t really ever surprise me either</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-10-09/only-20-nobels-sciences-have-gone-women-why">rarity of female Nobel laureates</a> raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science. Female researchers have come a long way over the past century. But there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Studies have shown those who persist in these careers face explicit and implicit barriers to advancement. Bias is most intense in fields that are predominantly male, where women lack a critical mass of representation and are often viewed as tokens or outsiders.</p>
<p>When women achieve at the highest levels of sports, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00402.x">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1002790/">medicine</a> and science, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2011.607313">serve as role models</a> for everyone – especially for girls and other women. </p>
<p>As things are getting better in terms of equal representation, what still holds women back in the lab, in leadership and as award winners?</p>
<h2>Good news at the start of the pipeline</h2>
<p>Traditional stereotypes hold that women “don’t like math” and “aren’t good at science.” Both <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/both-genders-think-women-are-bad-basic-math">men and women report these viewpoints</a>, but researchers have <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/share.aspx">empirically disputed them</a>. Studies show that girls and women avoid STEM education not because of cognitive inability, but because of early exposure and experience with STEM, educational policy, cultural context, stereotypes and a lack of exposure to role models. </p>
<p>For the past several decades, efforts to improve the representation of women in STEM fields have focused on countering these stereotypes with <a href="http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/igen/">educational reforms</a> and <a href="https://girlswhocode.com/">individual</a> <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383">programs</a> that can increase the number of girls entering and staying in what’s been called the STEM pipeline – the path from K-12 to college to postgraduate training.</p>
<p><iframe id="qE27X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qE27X/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These approaches are working. Women are increasingly likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012002908">express an interest in STEM careers and pursue STEM majors</a> in college. Women now make up half or more of workers in psychology and social sciences and are increasingly represented in the scientific workforce, though computer and mathematical sciences are an exception. </p>
<p>According to the American Institute of Physics, women earn about 20% of bachelor’s degrees and 18% of Ph.D.s in physics, <a href="https://www.aip.org/taxonomy/term/155">an increase from 1975</a> when women earned 10% of bachelor’s degrees and 5% of Ph.D.s in physics.</p>
<p>More women are graduating with STEM Ph.D.s and earning faculty positions. But they encounter glass cliffs and ceilings as they advance through their academic careers.</p>
<h2>What’s not working for women</h2>
<p>Women face a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">structural and institutional barriers</a> in academic STEM careers.</p>
<p>In addition to issues related to the gender pay gap, the structure of academic science often makes it difficult for women to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135943974">get ahead in the workplace</a> and to balance work and life commitments. Bench science can require years of dedicated time in a laboratory. The strictures of the tenure-track process can make maintaining work-life balance, responding to family obligations and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-todays-long-stem-postdoc-positions-are-effectively-anti-mother-51550">having children</a> or taking family leave difficult, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711417730">if not impossible</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, working in male-dominated workplaces can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">leave women feeling isolated</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777808">perceived as tokens</a> and susceptible to <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic">harassment</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010344929577">Women often are excluded</a> from networking opportunities and social events, left to feel they’re outside the culture of the lab, the academic department and the field.</p>
<p>When women lack a critical mass in a workplace – making up about 15% or more of workers – they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2884712">less empowered to advocate for themselves</a> and more likely to be perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08353.x">a minority group and an exception</a>. When in this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9454-2">take on extra service</a> as tokens on committees or <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ghost-Advising/242729">mentors to female graduate students</a>.</p>
<p>With fewer female colleagues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917735900">women are less likely</a> to build relationships with female collaborators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0256-y">support and advice networks</a>. This isolation can be exacerbated when women are unable to participate in work events or <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/02/07/conferences-should-be-more-family-friendly-women-scholars-children-opinion">attend conferences because of family or child care</a> responsibilities and an inability to use research funds to reimburse child care.</p>
<p>Universities, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/10000/Increasing_Women_s_Leadership_in_Academic.23.aspx">professional associations</a> and federal funders have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20225">worked to address a variety</a> of these structural barriers. Efforts include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary reporting, enforcing Title IX protections, providing mentoring and support programs for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement. These programs have mixed results. </p>
<p>For example, research indicates that family-friendly policies such as leave and onsite child care <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006">can exacerbate gender inequity</a>, resulting in increased research productivity for men and increased teaching and service obligations for women.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People haven’t really updated their mental images of what a scientist looks like since Wilhelm Roentgen won the first physics Nobel in 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sftaf5z8">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Implicit biases about who does science</h2>
<p>All of us – the general public, the media, university employees, students and professors – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">ideas of what a scientist</a> and a Nobel Prize winner looks like. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13039">That image</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">predominantly male, white and older</a> – which makes sense given 97% of the science Nobel Prize winners have been men.</p>
<p>This is an example of an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/">implicit bias</a>: one of the unconscious, involuntary, natural, unavoidable assumptions that all of us – men and women – form about the world. People make decisions <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">based on subconscious assumptions, preferences and stereotypes</a> – sometimes even when they are counter to their explicitly held beliefs.</p>
<p>Research shows that an implicit bias against women <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-scientist-looks-like/">as experts and academic scientists</a> is pervasive. It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship. </p>
<p>Implicit bias can work against women’s hiring, advancement and recognition of their work. For instance, women seeking academic jobs are more likely to be viewed and judged based on <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2018/preliminary/paper/nZ24K7b2">personal information and physical appearance</a>. Letters of recommendation for women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1">more likely to raise doubts</a> and use language that results in negative career outcomes.</p>
<p>Implicit bias can affect women’s ability to publish research findings and gain recognition for that work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903">Men cite their own papers 56% more</a> than women do. Known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">Matilda Effect</a>,” there is a gender gap in recognition, award-winning and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations">citations</a>. </p>
<p>Women’s research is less likely to be cited by others, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R7AQT1">ideas are more likely to be attributed to men</a>. Women’s solo-authored research takes <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/20/study-finds-women-economics-write-papers-are-more-readable-face-longer-publication">twice as long</a> to move through the review process. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06678-6">Women are underrepresented</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12950">journal editorships</a>, as senior scholars and lead authors and as peer reviewers. This marginalization in research gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.</p>
<p>When a woman becomes a world-class scientist, implicit bias works <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00739-17">against the likelihood</a> that she will be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/women-are-invited-to-give-fewer-talks-than-men-at-top-us-universities/548657/">invited as a keynote or guest speaker</a> to share her research findings, thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198">lowering her visibility in the field</a> and the likelihood that she will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">nominated for awards</a>. This gender imbalance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517000580">notable in how infrequently</a> <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2017/11/17/we-need-more-womens-voices-in-the-news.html">women experts</a> are <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/lack-female-sources-ny-times-front-page-stories-highlights-need-change">quoted in news stories</a> on most topics.</p>
<p>Women scientists are afforded less of the respect and recognition that should come with their accomplishments. Research shows that when people talk about male scientists and experts, they’re more likely to use their surnames and more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805284115">refer to women by their first names</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this matter? Because experiments show that individuals referred to by their surnames are more likely to be viewed as famous and eminent. In fact, one study found that calling scientists by their last names led people to consider them 14% more deserving of a National Science Foundation career award.</p>
<p>Seeing mostly men has been the history of science. Addressing structural and implicit bias in STEM will hopefully prevent another half-century wait before the next woman is acknowledged with a Nobel Prize for her contribution to physics. I look forward to the day when a woman receiving the most prestigious award in science is newsworthy only for her science and not her gender.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-more-women-dont-win-science-nobels-104370">an article originally published</a> on Oct. 5, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary K. Feeney receives research funding from the National Science Foundation and the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, ASU.</span></em></p>
Progress has been made toward gender parity in science fields. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Mary K. Feeney, Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs and Associate Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/123536
2019-09-24T16:33:51Z
2019-09-24T16:33:51Z
How economics can help save lives: a conversation with Alvin Roth, 2012 Nobel Prize laureate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293871/original/file-20190924-51410-ah35m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C1500%2C974&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alvin Roth exposes his work on "disgusting markets" at the European Meeting of the ESA (Economic Science Association) on 7 September in Dijon, France.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/LESSACDijon/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARBngSpMZimJYuZtJRtmF-Wpb0kA7jAHmrNQ5XvT3cL7BZbQfJGp2-zoJ2KhfStcwFF8cE-s6MM7xBaf">Lessac/BSB</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The work of American economist Alvin Roth is a direct response to those who believe that economics is more about mathematics than the real world. A professor at Stanford, he built his reputation by applying economic theory to concrete, everyday problems. A winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize with Lloyd Shapley, Roth has dedicated much of his research to what are known as “repugnant” markets – transactions that “some people would like to engage in while others, even if not directly affected, think they should not be allowed to do so”. One example is selling vital organs for transplant purposes, which is considered repugnant everywhere (or almost) in the world. However, Roth has studied issues related to the supply and demand for organs and has developed a model that allows matching between kidney donors and recipients. In a nutshell, his work has helped increase the number of kidney transplants and thus saved lives.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation France met this eminent specialist in experimental economics in Dijon, during his visit at the European Meeting of the Economic Science Association (ESA), organized on September 7, 2019, by the <a href="https://lessac.bsb-education.com/index.php">Laboratory for Experimentation in Social Sciences and Behavioural Analysis</a> (Lessac) of Burgundy School of Business (BSB).</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>The Conversation: How would you define a “repugnant” market?</strong></p>
<p>Alvin Roth: I can’t give a perfect definition, but when I speak about repugnant transactions, I think about transactions that some people would like to take part in and other people who are not directly affected by these transactions think they should not be allowed to. A repugnant market is a market of repugnant transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Could you give us a few examples?</strong></p>
<p>One example that I spoke about today was same-sex marriage. Two people would like to marry each other but other people think they maybe shouldn’t be allowed to. This has been a divisive political issue in Europe and in the United States, and different countries and states have reached different conclusions about it. (Currently, constitutional or statutory provisions prohibiting same-sex marriage exist in 13 US states, while it’s legal in the others).</p>
<p><strong>You conception of the matching system to multiply transplantations. The purpose is to build a kidney-exchange chain. How does it works? And how does it cope with the repugnance factor?</strong></p>
<p>Transplantation is not repugnant at all. Transplantation saves the life of someone who has kidney failure, for example, and I don’t think many people object to that. What’s repugnant is <em>purchasing</em> the kidney. Kidneys are special: people have two kidneys and can remain healthy with one, so you might be able to save the live of someone you love by giving them a kidney. But the law requires that these be gifts, not sales. Just about everywhere in the world that’s the law, with the exception of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a result, there’s a shortage of organs for transplants. Many people die without getting a transplant because there aren’t enough organs for the people who need them, living donor organs included. Sometimes, you might love someone enough to give him a kidney but you can’t give a kidney to the person you love, because kidneys have to be very well-matched. Kidney exchange is a way of getting some transplants done, even when patients and their donors are not well matched.</p>
<p>Maybe you want to give a kidney to your sister and I want to give a kidney to my sister, but neither of us can do that because we’re not good matches for them. But maybe your sister could take my kidney and my sister could take your kidney and that way we get two more transplants and two lives saved. That’s the basic idea of kidney exchange.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292394/original/file-20190913-8693-17ngrw7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kidney chain from Alvin Roth’s presentation ‘Improved markets for doctors, organ transplants and school choice’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://stanford.edu/~alroth/Congressional%20Briefing.BetterLiving.March2010.pdf">Stanford.edu</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How can your work on transplantations be useful on understanding other repugnant markets?</strong></p>
<p>Partly the question with kidney exchange was to understand what was repugnant and how we could move forward to the larger goal without offending. In a kidney exchange, no one is paid. No one gets money, it’s a kidney for a kidney, and that turns out not to be repugnant. In the United States we were able to get the federal law changed to make clear that kidney exchange is not repugnant. The reasons that some people don’t like certain transactions can be different from the reasons other people want to engage in those transactions.</p>
<p><strong>What are the ways around this repugnance? Are they necessarily to be found in regulation and law?</strong></p>
<p>Just as markets need social support to work well, so do bans on markets. So making laws against markets doesn’t always make them go away, as we learn in the markets for illegal drugs or for prostitution, for example. Different countries and states in the US have different laws about those things. Another market I’ve talked about where there are different rules in different places are markets for things like parental surrogacy. In France, it’s illegal. In California, where I live, it’s legal. Making it illegal in France, however, has not stopped French couples who need a surrogate from getting them. Then you have to deal with how should the law treat the children who should have French citizenship and French parents and might possibly have no citizenship and no parents if the French law is applied too strictly (The French courts have softened the restrictions of the French law in such cases) ! Markets may be both hard to create, and hard to prevent.</p>
<p><strong>How can the study of repugnant markets help regular legal markets?</strong></p>
<p>Technology changes all markets and the opportunities of people in markets. For instance surrogacy was only possible after the invention of <em>in vitro</em> fertilization. This is true in other markets too. We now see financial markets where most of the trades are done by computers. That has changed the nature of the market and sometimes it changes the nature of rules that markets need to run well. I think that markets are a little bit like living organisms. We have to see how they evolve. When we think about how to make them work well, how markets should serve the participants and society, we sometimes have to change the rules by which they work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Stanford professor’s research has led to an increase in the number of kidney transplants in the United States.
Leighton Kille, Rédacteur en chef, coordination internationale et technique, The Conversation France
Thibault Lieurade, Chef de rubrique Economie + Entreprise, The Conversation France
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121527
2019-08-07T13:10:08Z
2019-08-07T13:10:08Z
Toni Morrison: American literary giant made it her life’s work to ensure that black lives (and voices) matter
<p>The peerless novelist and cultural commentator Toni Morrison, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html">who has died aged 88</a>, never accepted the received wisdom about anything. In a writing career that spanned half a century – from the appearance of the first of her 11 novels, The Bluest Eye, in 1970, to that of her last essay collection, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/08/mouth-full-of-blood-toni-morrison-review">Mouth Full of Blood</a>, in February 2019 – she unfailingly cast in new light both aspects of human experience and moments in American history that, in our complacency, we thought we already knew.</p>
<p>Morrison was born (as Chloe Wofford) in the depressed Rustbelt town of Lorain, Ohio, to a family of modest financial means and rich cultural and emotional resources. Her father worked as a welder at the nearby US Steel plant and her mother was a key member of the African Methodist Episcopal church choir. Her grandparents – who had migrated north from Alabama and Georgia – were also a significant presence and influence. The music, storytelling and reading from the King James Bible that characterised Morrison’s childhood were to indelibly shape the values and aesthetics of her own writing.</p>
<p>As the first member of her family to go to college, Morrison attended Howard University in Washington DC between 1949-53 (where she majored in English and minored in classics) – and was shocked by the segregation and “colourism” she encountered. She went on to complete her MA in English at Cornell in 1955 and, after various teaching and publishing jobs, became a trade editor for Random House in 1968. </p>
<p>Here, in the New York office, she reshaped the American literary scene by actively seeking out and promoting the fiction of black authors such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Toni-Cade-Bambara">Toni Cade Bambara</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Forrest">Leon Forrest</a> and <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jones-gayle-1949/">Gayl Jones</a>. She also edited the autobiographies of <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/davis-angela-1944/">Angela Davis</a> and Muhammad Ali.</p>
<p>Morrison was able to focus full time on her writing after the resounding success of her third novel, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/beloved-morrison-song-of-solomon-bluest-eye.html">Song of Solomon</a>, in 1977. Reputed to be one of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ICSvbzZGVE">Barack Obama’s favourite books</a>, this text – which focused on the Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s – is typically Morrisonian in its mock-heroic blending of the Bildungsroman (conventions about an individual’s progression to knowledge through experience), with classical epic paradigms, West African myth and African American folkloric wisdom. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1158764847800213507"}"></div></p>
<p>It is notably untypical, at the same time, in its focus on a male protagonist (the strangely named Milkman Dead – names and naming were always all-important to Morrison), and on friendships and family ties between men.</p>
<p>The novel for which Morrison is best known, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/6/20756895/toni-morrison-obituary-legacy-beloved-editor">Beloved</a>, was to follow in 1987 and next came her arguably underrated (because it was insufficiently understood?) masterpiece, <a href="http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/morrison-jazz.html">Jazz</a> (1992). Each of these continues the intense focus on individuals that both society and history have spurned or overlooked. These are those Morrison has called the “disremembered and unaccounted for”, that she initiated with her examination of the interior life of the abused “ugly” black girl, Pecola Breedlove, in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jan/11/the-bluest-eye-toni-morrison-review">The Bluest Eye</a>. </p>
<p>Both the exploration of an infanticidal, formerly enslaved mother’s quest for atonement in Beloved and the depiction in Jazz of the struggles and triumphs of a middle-aged couple, migrants from rural Virginia, in 1920s Harlem, epitomise Morrison at her uncanny best. Her work is unflinching in her attention to the brutal realities of innumerable black lives and attends equally to their creative resilience – combining broad historical sweep with an intimate knowledge of the individual human psyche.</p>
<h2>Nobel laureate</h2>
<p>Morrison was <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/summary/">awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993</a> and numerous other awards and accolades have followed. She is read, studied and revered in numerous languages all over the world. But our sense of loss at her passing should not blind us to the fact that for far too long she was at once a celebrity and insufficiently acknowledged – particularly in the more conservative wings of academia and the media – as a figure of universal (as opposed to “minority”) significance. </p>
<p>Even now, there persists some resistance to including her work on “high literary” syllabi. She once observed wryly, at a book reading, that she was taught in the African American studies departments, in sociology and even in Law faculties, but rarely in the English departments of elite universities. There continues a failure to recognise the extent of her contribution to intellectual history that both her fiction and her extraordinary essays constitute. </p>
<p>Her reclaiming of modernism as primarily a black experience, as well as her insistence that any distinction between the aesthetic and the political is a false dichotomy, and her illuminations of the way colonialism and imperialism consciously fabricated African culture and history as irrelevant, are among her greatest legacies.</p>
<h2>Public intellectual</h2>
<p>Morrison herself was acutely aware of the complex and sometimes insidious nature of her reception, repeatedly addressing this in interviews and comment pieces. She frequently mentioned the initial New York Times review of Sula, for example, which implied that such a powerful writer ought really to focus her attention on something more important than the lives of black women in the Midwest. In a 1983 <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Critical-Essays-on-Toni-Morrison-Nellie-McKay/9780816188840">interview with literary critic Nellie McKay</a>, she famously insisted that she was “not <em>like</em> James Joyce, not <em>like</em> Thomas Hardy, not <em>like</em> Faulkner”. Such comparisons at that time, she believed, obscured her specific commitment to black politics and aesthetics.</p>
<p>Never resting on her laurels, throughout her <a href="https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/emeritus/toni-morrison">professorship at Princeton</a>, her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/books/21morr.html">guest curatorship at the Louvre</a> in 2006-07, in her retirement and until the very end, she remained profoundly alert to the way her books and essays were read, (mis)understood and (mis)represented. In her role as public intellectual and fearless social commentator, she was prescient about the racist violence that precipitated the Black Lives Matter movement and prophetic about the regressions that the Trump era has entailed. </p>
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</figure>
<p>Although her unwavering commitment to social justice and radical change perhaps occasionally led her to overexplain – in the forewords she wrote for the Vintage reissues of the novels in the early 2000s, for example, or in her final novel, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/29/god-help-the-child-toni-morrison-review-novel">God Help the Child</a>, which lacks the pitch perfection of its predecessors – we shall ignore her wisdom about power (and how to subvert it) at our peril.</p>
<p>A recent documentary film, <a href="https://www.theforeignershome.com/">The Foreigner’s Home</a>, depicts Morrison drawing parallels between the trauma undergone by captured Africans transported on the slaving ships’ Middle Passage to the Americas, the experience of black residents of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the current worldwide migrant crisis. The very making of such connections, and the way she deploys her customary stunning oratory to expose uncomfortable truths about the nature of “home” and “homelessness”, epitomises all that will endure about the phenomenon that was Toni Morrison. </p>
<p>Above all, the insights of this film insist, as does her fiction implicitly, and her Nobel Prize lecture explicitly, that the future is “in our hands”. The power and the responsibility for making the world a better place lies not with the great artists whose passing we mourn, Morrison always maintained, but with ourselves – the readers and thinkers who have so much work still to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121527/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tessa Roynon was awarded an AHRC Postgraduate Award for her doctoral dissertation on Toni Morrison in 2001. She is a senior research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute and a member of the English Faculty, both at the University of Oxford. Tessa is also the author of two books and numerous articles on Toni Morrison.</span></em></p>
With her writing, and her work as a publisher, Morrison brought the African-American experience to the fore in the US and around the world.
Tessa Roynon, Teaching and Research Fellow, Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104456
2018-10-08T13:41:08Z
2018-10-08T13:41:08Z
No black scientist has ever won a Nobel – that’s bad for science, and bad for society
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239718/original/file-20181008-133328-xvv2kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black scientists lack role models who look like them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-portrait-young-confused-business-man-193917758?src=ytxtsKEtk29_gf1VU3OuLQ-5-4">pathdoc/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many in the scientific world are celebrating the fact that two women received this year’s Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry. Donna Strickland and Frances Arnold are only the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/nobel-prize-awarded-women-3/">20th and 21st female scientists</a> to be recognised by the Nobel Committee. Yet in over 100 years, we have never seen a black scientist become a Nobel laureate. </p>
<p>Every year, the annual October Nobel Prize announcements coincide with Black History Month, which is a painful reminder that of the more than 900 <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/">Nobel laureates</a>, only 14 (1.5%) <a href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/List_of_black_Nobel_laureates.html">have been black</a> and none in science. Almost all black laureates have been awarded for work in the fields of peace (ten) and literature (three). During that time the closest a black scientist has come to winning has been social scientist <a href="https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/economics/about/people/arthur-lewis/">Arthur Lewis</a> for his work economics in 1973.</p>
<p>By contrast there have been over 70 Asian laureates, the majority in the sciences, and since 2000 that number has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/oct/01/nobel-prizes-asian-scientists-us">significantly increased</a>. This is partly due to the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academic-ranking-world-universities-2018-asian-universities-climb">increasing influence and power</a> of Japanese, Chinese, Korean universities and the success of the Asian American academy. To win a Nobel Prize for science, it helps if you are in a prestigious institution and in a position to lead big expensive science.</p>
<p>The main reason why no black scientist has won a Nobel prize is simply a matter of numbers. Not enough bright young black people are choosing science. Alongside the more limited opportunities for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/oct/26/africa-produces-just-11-of-global-scientific-knowledge">black Africans</a>, black people in Western countries are less likely <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45007879/ns/us_news-life/t/declining-numbers-blacks-seen-math-science/#.W7b76xNKh8c">to study science</a>, less likely to <a href="https://www.ecu.ac.uk/guidance-resources/student-recruitment-retention-attainment/student-attainment/degree-attainment-gaps/">achieve a top degree</a> and less likely to <a href="https://royalsociety.org/%7E/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/projects/leading-way-diversity/picture-uk-scientific-workforce/070314-diversity-report-executive-summary.pdf?la=en-GB">progress to scientific careers</a>.</p>
<p>To even be considered as a possible Nobel laureate you must become a principal investigator or a professor in a leading institution. Yet, once a black science graduate makes it to the first rung on the academic ladder they face the same challenges as any other black academic around access to promotion and access to resources. For example, we know black scientists in the US are less likely to receive <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6045/1015.full">funding for health research</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239715/original/file-20181008-72117-q6lk8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black people are less likely to study or work in science.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-scientists-sitting-modern-laboratory-talking-1036687324">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To become a professor you need support from your institution and to find at least four existing professors at other institutions who will support your application and certify that you are a leader in your field with an international reputation. This requires building large internal and external networks. <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-fewer-than-100-black-professors-in-britain-why-24088">For many reasons</a>, not enough black academics work in institutions where such reputations and networks are made, significantly reducing the possibility of being promoted to professors.</p>
<p>This is also something of a circular problem. It seems highly likely the perception that black people don’t reach the highest level in science has in some ways affected the success of black people in science. <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2018/04/25/62509/">Research suggests</a> <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2372732214549471">female role models</a> can encourage women to pursue careers in science, and the same seems <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/under-represented-and-underserved-why-minority-role-models-matter-in-stem/">likely to be true</a> for black people. Having a black Nobel laureate would inspire more black students to <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/why-my-professor-still-not-black">become black professors</a>, which in turn would inspire more young black people to study science. </p>
<p>During my own undergraduate studies, many courses began with a professor describing the inspirational work of a Nobel laureate, who was usually a white man. These individuals were elevated to superhuman status, people we should aspire to be like because their work had <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/connect/influential-articles-for-the-65th-anniversary-of-the-lindau-nobel-laureate-meeting">transcended the field</a>. This clearly appealed to me as it reinforced my desire to become a scientist. </p>
<p>But at the same time, as a black student, achieving that level of success or even anything along that path appeared far more distant as there was never a black laureate on the list. Although I was not deterred by this fact, I have no doubt it had an impact, not just on me but on my fellow white students and more importantly my tutors, and later my university employers and those awarding research grants. A black Nobel laureate would have made it easier for them to see me as a potential high achiever and treat me accordingly.</p>
<h2>Why we need action</h2>
<p>More black scientists wouldn’t just be a victory for equality but would benefit wider society. For example, conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many others have a <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180102134830.htm">higher incidence</a> in people of black or African heritage. Yet research is often biased towards <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/08/genetics-research-biased-towards-studying-white-europeans">studying white people</a>. More black scientists, especially in leading positions, could bring greater focus, understanding and different insights to investigating these conditions. They could also help lead the decolonising of science, again with wider <a href="https://theconversation.com/decolonise-science-time-to-end-another-imperial-era-89189">advantages to society</a>.</p>
<p>So how can we increase the chances of a black scientist becoming a Nobel laureate? We cannot wait for Africa to have the same political and economic power as Asia. Looking at the 49 women Nobel Prize winners, of which only 21 were scientists and only three in physics, we see a similar challenge. But with the advent of many <a href="https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12961-017-0177-9">successful campaigns</a> backed by political action to increase the number of women in science, particularly in the leading institutions and in leading positions, the number of women laureates is likely to increase significantly. If we want more black scientists and eventually Nobel laureates, then similar direct strategic action is urgently needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Winston Morgan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
We need action to increase the number of black scientists if we’re ever to see a black Nobel winner.
Winston Morgan, Reader in Toxicology and Clinical Biochemistry, University of East London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104370
2018-10-05T23:38:00Z
2018-10-05T23:38:00Z
Why more women don’t win science Nobels
<p>One of the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/strickland/facts/">2018 Nobel Prizes in physics</a> went to Donna Strickland, a major accomplishment for any scientist. Yet much of the news coverage has focused on the fact that she’s only the third female physicist to receive the award, after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/facts/">Marie Curie in 1903</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/facts/">Maria Goeppert-Mayer</a> 60 years later.</p>
<p>Though biochemical engineer <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/arnold/facts/">Frances Arnold</a> also won this year, for chemistry, the rarity of female Nobel laureates raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science. Female researchers have come a long way over the past century. But there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Studies have shown those who persist in these careers face explicit and implicit barriers to advancement. Bias is most intense in fields that are predominantly male, where women lack a critical mass of representation and are often viewed as tokens or outsiders.</p>
<p>When women achieve at the highest levels of sports, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00402.x">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1002790/">medicine</a> and science, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2011.607313">serve as role models</a> for all of us, especially for girls and other women. But are things getting better in terms of equal representation? What still holds women back in the classroom, in the lab, in leadership and as award winners?</p>
<h2>Good news at the start of the pipeline</h2>
<p>Traditional stereotypes hold that women “don’t like math” and “aren’t good at science.” Both <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/both-genders-think-women-are-bad-basic-math">men and women report these viewpoints</a>, but researchers have <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/share.aspx">empirically disputed them</a>. Studies show that girls and women avoid STEM education not because of cognitive inability, but because of early exposure and experience with STEM, educational policy, cultural context, stereotypes and a lack of exposure to role models. </p>
<p>For the past several decades, efforts to improve the representation of women in STEM fields have focused on countering these stereotypes with <a href="http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/igen/">educational reforms</a> and <a href="https://girlswhocode.com/">individual</a> <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383">programs</a> that can increase the number of girls entering and staying in what’s been called the STEM pipeline – the path from K-12 to college to postgraduate training.</p>
<p><iframe id="qE27X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qE27X/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These approaches are working. Women are increasingly likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012002908">express an interest in STEM careers and pursue STEM majors</a> in college. Women now make up half or more of workers in psychology and social sciences and are increasingly represented in the scientific workforce, though computer and mathematical sciences are an exception. According to the American Institute of Physics, women earn about 20 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 18 percent of Ph.D.s in physics, <a href="https://www.aip.org/taxonomy/term/155">an increase from 1975</a> when women earned 10 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 5 percent of Ph.D.s in physics.</p>
<p>More women are graduating with STEM Ph.D.s and earning faculty positions. But they go on to encounter glass cliffs and ceilings as they advance through their academic careers.</p>
<h2>What’s not working for women</h2>
<p>Women face a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">structural and institutional barriers</a> in academic STEM careers.</p>
<p>In addition to issues related to the gender pay gap, the structure of academic science often makes it difficult for women to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135943974">get ahead in the workplace</a> and to balance work and life commitments. Bench science can require years of dedicated time in a laboratory. The strictures of the tenure-track process can make maintaining work-life balance, responding to family obligations, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-todays-long-stem-postdoc-positions-are-effectively-anti-mother-51550">having children</a> or taking family leave difficult, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711417730">if not impossible</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, working in male-dominated workplaces can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">leave women feeling isolated</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777808">perceived as tokens</a> and susceptible to <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic">harassment</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010344929577">Women often are excluded</a> from networking opportunities and social events and left to feel they’re outside the culture of the lab, the academic department and the field.</p>
<p>When women lack critical mass – of about 15 percent or more – they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2884712">less empowered to advocate for themselves</a> and more likely to be perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08353.x">a minority group and an exception</a>. When in this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9454-2">take on extra service</a> as tokens on committees or <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ghost-Advising/242729">mentors to female graduate students</a>.</p>
<p>With fewer female colleagues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917735900">women are less likely</a> to build relationships with female collaborators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0256-y">support and advice networks</a>. This isolation can be exacerbated when women are unable to participate in work events or <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/02/07/conferences-should-be-more-family-friendly-women-scholars-children-opinion">attend conferences because of family or child care</a> responsibilities and an inability to use research funds to reimburse child care.</p>
<p>Universities, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/10000/Increasing_Women_s_Leadership_in_Academic.23.aspx">professional associations</a>, and federal funders have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20225">worked to address a variety</a> of these structural barriers. Efforts include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary reporting, enforcing Title IX protections, providing mentoring and support programs for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists, and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement. These programs have mixed results. For example, research indicates that family-friendly policies such as leave and onsite child care <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006">can exacerbate gender inequity</a>, resulting in increased research productivity for men and increased teaching and service obligations for women.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People haven’t done a good job updating their mental images of what a scientist looks like since Wilhelm Roentgen won the first physics Nobel in 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sftaf5z8">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Implicit biases about who does science</h2>
<p>All of us – the general public, the media, university employees, students and professors – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">ideas of what a scientist</a> and a Nobel Prize winner looks like. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13039">That image</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">predominantly male, white and older</a> – which makes sense given 97 percent of the science Nobel Prize winners have been men.</p>
<p>This is an example of an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/">implicit bias</a>: one of the unconscious, involuntary, natural, unavoidable assumptions that all of us, men and women, form about the world around us. People make decisions <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">based on subconscious assumptions, preferences and stereotypes</a> – sometimes even when they are counter to their explicitly held beliefs.</p>
<p>Research shows that an implicit bias against women <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-scientist-looks-like/">as experts and academic scientists</a> is pervasive. It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship. Implicit bias can work against women’s hiring, advancement and recognition of their work. For instance, women seeking academic jobs are more likely to be viewed and judged based on <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2018/preliminary/paper/nZ24K7b2">personal information and physical appearance</a>. Letters of recommendation for women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1">more likely to raise doubts</a> and use language that results in negative career outcomes.</p>
<p>Implicit bias can affect women’s ability to publish research findings and gain recognition for that work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903">Men cite their own papers 56 percent more</a> than women do. Known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">Matilda Effect</a>,” there is a gender gap in recognition, award winning and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations">citations</a>. Women’s research is less likely to be cited by others and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R7AQT1">ideas are more likely to be attributed to men</a>. Women’s solo-authored research takes <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/20/study-finds-women-economics-write-papers-are-more-readable-face-longer-publication">twice as long</a> to move through the review process. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06678-6">Women are underrepresented</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12950">journal editorships</a>, as senior scholars and lead authors, and as peer reviewers. This marginalization in research gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.</p>
<p>When a woman becomes a world-class scientist, implicit bias works <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00739-17">against the likelihood</a> that she will be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/women-are-invited-to-give-fewer-talks-than-men-at-top-us-universities/548657/">invited as a keynote or guest speaker</a> to share her research findings, thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198">lowering her visibility in the field</a> and the likelihood that she will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">nominated for awards</a>. This gender imbalance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517000580">notable in how infrequently</a> <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2017/11/17/we-need-more-womens-voices-in-the-news.html">women experts</a> are <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/lack-female-sources-ny-times-front-page-stories-highlights-need-change">quoted in news stories</a> on most topics.</p>
<p>Women scientists are afforded less of the respect and recognition that should come with their accomplishments. Research shows that when people talk about male scientists and experts, they’re more likely to use their surnames and more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805284115">refer to women by their first names</a>. Why does this matter? Because experiments show that individuals referred to by their surnames are more likely to be viewed as famous and eminent. In fact, one study found that calling scientists by their last names led people to consider them 14 percent more deserving of a National Science Foundation career award.</p>
<h2>Female physics laureate No. 3</h2>
<p>Strickland winning a Nobel Prize as an associate professor in physics is a major accomplishment; doing so as a woman who has almost certainly faced more barriers than her male counterparts is, in my view, monumental.</p>
<p>When asked what it felt like to be the third female Nobel laureate in physics, Strickland noted that at first it was surprising to realize so few women had won the award: “But, I mean, I do live in a world of mostly men, so seeing mostly men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653779921/donna-strickland-becomes-first-woman-in-more-than-50-years-to-win-physics-nobel-">doesn’t really ever surprise me either</a>.”</p>
<p>Seeing mostly men has been the history of science. Addressing structural and implicit bias in STEM will hopefully prevent another half-century wait before the next woman is acknowledged with a Nobel Prize for her contribution to physics. I look forward to the day when a woman receiving the most prestigious award in science is newsworthy only for her science and not her gender.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary K. Feeney receives research funding from the National Science Foundation and the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, ASU. </span></em></p>
Progress has been made toward gender parity in science fields. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Mary K. Feeney, Associate Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs and Associate Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97996
2018-09-20T10:35:55Z
2018-09-20T10:35:55Z
Should all Nobel Prizes be canceled for a year?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235300/original/file-20180906-190659-1mhqka4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A postage stamp printed in Norway showing an image of Alfred Nobel, circa 2001.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/norway-circa-2001-postage-stamp-printed-130762838?src=DT5LvKm9dxjLT0IQiCR50A-1-10">catwalker/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you ever meet someone who claims to have nearly won the Nobel Prize in mathematics, walk away: You’re dealing with a deeply delusional individual. While there isn’t, and has never been, a Nobel in mathematics, the desire to claim Nobel-worthiness is sensible, for no matter the field, it is the world’s most prestigious accolade. </p>
<p>The annual prizes are Sweden’s most sacred holiday, bringing out royalty in the arts and sciences and a worldwide audience of millions to witness an event featuring the pomp and circumstance typically associated with the naming of a new pope. Indeed, the prizes are so important to Sweden’s national identity that the <a href="http://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/sweden/king-carl-xvi-gustaf-concerned-about-crisis-in-swedish-academy-100031">king of Sweden</a>, the Swedish Academy’s supreme patron, recently took the unprecedented step of expressing his concerns regarding the scandal and his intention to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/11/king-sweden-considers-using-royal-powers-break-nobel-deadlock/">rewrite the statutes</a> so that compromised members of the Swedish Academy could resign. A few weeks later the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/europe/nobel-prize-for-literature-swedish-academy-postponed-intl/index.html">Nobel Prize in literature for 2018</a> was canceled. What would cause King Carl XVI Gustaf to take such an extraordinary step? I would argue that he did so for the same reason that Alfred Nobel founded the awards to begin with: public relations.</p>
<p>Chemist and inventor <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/blame-sloppy-journalism-for-the-nobel-prizes-1172688/">Alfred Nobel</a> was once called “the merchant of death” for his arms dealership’s role in “killing more people faster than ever before.” To rehabilitate the Nobel name, Alfred created the eponymous prizes with a mission that the awards be “for the benefit of mankind.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235301/original/file-20180906-190656-1mcce08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The 2013 Nobel Prize winners from left to right: Francois Englert, physics; Peter W. Higgs, physics; Martin Karplus, chemistry; Micheal Levitt, chemistry; Arieh Warshel, chemistry; James E. Rothman, medicine; Randy W. Schekman, medicine; Thomas C. Sudhof, medicine; Eugene F. Fama, economics; Lars Peter Hansen, economics; Robert J.Shiller, economics, at the Nobel Prize award ceremony, Dec. 10, 2013, in Stockholm, Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Sweden-Nobels/574735d3efe141999b3b3cb04c046d44/2/0">TT, Fredrik Sandberg/AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>The Swedish Academy wisely decided that the literature Nobel take a one-year hiatus to <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1HY1BU">investigate the allegations</a> of horrific sexual misconduct by the husband of a key member of the committee that awards the prize in literature. This “stand-down” period will hopefully also allow for a reevaluation of the process by which the prizes are awarded.</p>
<p>While the two science prizes, in chemistry and physics, have so far not succumbed to scandal, they have had their fair share of controversy. (See Haber’s 1918 chemistry Nobel for the synthesis of ammonia, after his advocacy for chemical weapons use in 1915.) Still, I believe it might behoove the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to take a year off as well. </p>
<p>As an astrophysicist and an invited nominator of Nobel laureates in years past, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Nobel-Prize-Cosmology-Ambition/dp/1324000910">I have studied the prize and the organization that awards them</a>. My investigations revealed a bevy of biases that still remain within the esteemed physics prize (my specialization). If it were to “stay the course,” I fear the prestige of the Nobel, and perhaps the public’s perception of science itself, could be irreparably harmed.</p>
<h2>Eyes on the prize</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236941/original/file-20180918-158228-1ydc6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The AGA lighthouse ‘Blockhusudden,’ close to Stockholm, was set up in 1912. The lighthouse was driven by a sun valve that was invented by Nils Gustaf Dalén. The sun valve allowed the lighthouse to conserve fuel by turning on only at night. This lighthouse worked continuously on the sun valve until it was electrified in 1980.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stockholm_Sweden_Blockhusudden-lighthouse-01.jpg">Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>To win science’s top prize an individual must meet three main criteria, according to Alfred Nobel’s will. First they must make the most important invention or discovery in physics or chemistry. Secondly, it should be made during the previous year. And the final requirement is that it benefits all of mankind. This last outcome is the most nebulous and subjective – and frequently violated. How can the degree of the worldwide beneficence of a scientific discovery be adequately judged? </p>
<p>For example, given the enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons around the world, is nuclear fission, the winning achievement of the 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Otto Hahn, and not to his female collaborator Lise Meitner, of sufficient benefit to warrant a Nobel?</p>
<p>And what about the lobotomy? This discovery, rewarded with the 1949 Nobel Prize in physiology, caused widespread and disastrous outcomes until it was banned a decade later. Gustav Dalen’s lighthouse regulator, awarded the prize in 1912, didn’t exactly enjoy the longevity of many subsequent prizes.</p>
<p>Even some recent prizes have raised eyebrows. Corruption charges brought up in 2008 threatened to sully the reputation of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine after <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-drug-company-buy-nobel/">drug company AstraZeneca allegedly influenced the selection of that year’s laureate</a> for its own gain.</p>
<p>This points to another issue with the prize: It can misrepresent the way science is done. Science is a team sport, and no one truly goes to Stockholm alone. Yet the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fair-is-it-for-just-three-people-to-receive-the-nobel-prize-in-physics-85161">current restriction</a> to at most three laureates distorts the perception of science by reinforcing the layperson’s impression that science is done by “lone geniuses” – typically “white, American males” – working without vast support networks behind them. </p>
<p>And what if, in contrast to these scientific innovations, the Nobel Prize itself harms rather than helps mankind, or at least the slice of it devoted to the sciences?</p>
<h2>Nobel-worthiness?</h2>
<p>While it’s true that Nobel’s titular prize bequeathed a fortune to scientists, activists, physicians and writers, scientists are rarely impelled to their trade for personal enrichment. In fact, science prizes such as the <a href="http://www.templetonprize.org/abouttheprize.html">Templeton</a> and <a href="https://breakthroughprize.org/Prizes/1">Breakthrough</a> are worth far more than the 9 million Kroner, or about US$983,000, cash purse of the Nobel Prize. Some physicists speculate that every winner of these more munificent awards would gladly <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/do-the-new-big-money-science-prizes-work">forgo the extra cash for a Nobel</a>. But Alfred Nobel’s intent wasn’t to swell scientists’ wallets. Instead, he wanted to <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9780521347471/22572523967&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-PLP1">bring attention to their beneficial work</a> and incentivize new inventions. In this regard, the Nobel Prize has vastly exceeded Alfred’s modest expectations.</p>
<p>It wasn’t always this way. When the inaugural Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901, Wilhelm Röntgen, who won the physics prize for his discovery of X-rays, which surely improved the lives of billions around the world, didn’t even get to present his Nobel lecture.</p>
<p>Yet, by the mid-1900s, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nobel-Prize-History-Controversy-Prestige/dp/1611457246">Burton Feldman claims</a> science became “increasingly incomprehensible to the public…when the media began its own expansion and influence.” These factors conspired to elevate the stature of the Nobel Prize along with the prominence of the laureates who are bestowed it.</p>
<p>Generally, most of my colleagues believe that Nobel winners in chemistry and physics deserved their prizes. Yet, is it the scientist laureates, all mankind, or the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – the entity charged with laureate selection – that benefits the most from the Nobel Prize? </p>
<h2>A noble vision</h2>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236934/original/file-20180918-158225-1r9l5ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to (from left to right) PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Many people were angry that the prize was awarded to Arafat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_Government_Press_Office_(GPO)_-_THE_NOBEL_PEACE_PRIZE_LAUREATES_FOR_1994_IN_OSLO..jpg">Government Press Office (Israel)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The Nobel Prizes have seen many radical changes in nearly a dozen decades since they were first awarded. Despite their lofty status, my investigation into the history of the Nobel Prizes shows that they have not always lived up to the objective of benefiting mankind. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236935/original/file-20180918-143281-11a6rye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some science laureates, such as William Shockley, have used their fame to promote odious agendas such as eugenics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Shockley,_Stanford_University.jpg">By Chuck Painter / Stanford News Service</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/take-the-nobel-name-off-economics-prize-say-relatives-9169672.html">Following complaints by Alfred Nobel’s great grandnephew, Peter Nobel,</a> alleging use of the Nobel name for political purposes, relatives demanded a name change: The prize popularly known as “the Nobel Prize in Economics” – a prize not endowed by Alfred – bears the winsome title “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.” Peter Nobel wants no connection to the prize at all. </p>
<p>Peace prize winners have <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-tutu-eu-not-worthy-to-win-nobel-peace-prize-2012nov30-story.html">sued the Nobel Foundation over grievances</a> in the awardees past, including leaders considered by some to be terrorists, such as <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2002/04/can_arafats_nobel_peace_prize_be_revoked.html">Yassir Arafat</a>, or to be warmongers like <a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2096389_2096388_2096385,00.html">Henry Kissinger</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236917/original/file-20180918-158219-10n8j0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rosalind Franklin, the physicist who helped reveal DNA’s double helix structure using X-ray crystallography. Contemporaneously, James Watson and Francis Crick were coming to a similar conclusion but didn’t have the hard data to support their claim. Unbeknownst to Franklin, Watson and Crick got access to Franklin’s data, allowing them to complete their model of DNA. Later the duo, along with Franklin’s male collaborator Maurice Wilkins, went on to win the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosalind_Franklin_(1920-1958).jpg">Jewish Chronicle Archive/Heritage-Images</a></span>
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<p>While the two physical science prizes have not been plagued by the horrific allegations being brought against the literature prize, they are hardly the redoubts of gender equality: Fewer than 1 percent of the prizes in the sciences have gone to women. </p>
<p>I suggest that it’s time that all the Nobel Prizes, including the science prizes, take a year off to reevaluate and reflect on Alfred Nobel’s lofty vision. </p>
<h2>Resurrecting the Nobel</h2>
<p>How can a yearlong hiatus restore the Nobel Prizes to their past luster? First off, a reevaluation of the mission of the prizes, especially the stipulation that they benefit all mankind, should be paramount. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236922/original/file-20180918-146148-1gq46xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Otto Hahn and not to his female collaborator Lise Meitner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lise_Meitner_(1878-1968),_lecturing_at_Catholic_University,_Washington,_D.C.,_1946.jpg">Briggs, C.A</a></span>
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<p>I believe we need to revise the statutes, which <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts/">were changed in 1974</a> so that the prize couldn’t be awarded posthumously. However, posthumous Nobel Prizes were deliberately given twice: the 1931 literature prize was awarded to the poet <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1931/summary/">Erik Axel Karlfeldt</a>, and the 1961 peace prize to diplomat <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1961/summary/">Dag Hammarskjöld</a>. I’d be remiss not to note that these men, while surely deserving winners, were both Swedish. Karlfeldt was even the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, the organization that selects the Nobel Prize in Literature. Rosalind Franklin died in 1958 — and could have been recognized for her contributions. </p>
<p>We need to revise the statutes to allow for new prizes and rectify past injustices. This could be achieved by allowing both posthumous Nobels, and prizes for past awards that failed to recognize the full cohort of discoverers. Unless we do so, the Nobels misrepresent the actual history of science. Examples of such omissions, unfortunately, abound. <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/its-time-to-rethink-the-nobel-prizes/">Ron Drever died</a> mere months before he likely would’ve won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics. Rosalind Franklin lost her fair share of the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Lise Meitner was denied her status as a 1944 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry for nuclear fission, which was awarded solely to her collaborator Otto Hahn. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06210-w">Jocelyn Bell</a>, discoverer of pulsars, lost her Nobel Prize to her Ph.D. advisor. Many others – mostly women – living and deceased had also been overlooked and ignored. </p>
<p>To initiate the reform process, with help from colleagues and interested laypeople, my colleagues and I have established a new online advocacy forum that encourages the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to rectify past wrongs, prevent old mistakes from causing new harm, and more accurately reflect the broad panorama that is modern science. The <a href="https://losingthenobelprize.org">Losing The Nobel Prize forum</a> is open to scientists and nonscientists alike to submit proposals to reform and improve the Nobel Prizes. </p>
<p>Thoughtful action now is crucial and has tremendous potential far beyond academia. Revisiting and revising the Nobel Prize process, correcting past mistakes and making the process more transparent in the future will redound to the benefit of all mankind, reinstating the Nobel to its legendary stature.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify the role of the King in events that led to canceling the Nobel Prize in Literature and Peter Nobel’s grievance with the economics prize. The original article misstated what Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize for and erroneously stated that the Wilhelm Röntgen did not collect his medal.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Keating receives funding from NSF, Simons Foundation and Heising-Simons Foundation. </span></em></p>
This year’s Nobel Prize for literature was nixed because of a sex scandal. Other Nobels have neglected key contributors. Should all prizes be cancelled while criteria for winning is reassessed?
Brian Keating, Professor of Physics, University of California, San Diego
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100046
2018-07-17T10:12:54Z
2018-07-17T10:12:54Z
Centenary of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s birth: a tribute in poems
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227842/original/file-20180716-44103-1robmra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nelson Mandela's legacy in poetry can re-familiarise us with the values he embodied.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Stringer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The centenary of the birth of <a href="https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography">Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela</a> offers a rich
opportunity to reflect on the life of South Africa’s extraordinary political leader and on the legacies of the struggle against apartheid that he and his cohort of fellow activists shaped. Mandela’s life-writing offers a great deal of inspiration for such reflection across a range of themes, including as scholars have pointed out, the question of Madiba’s own <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-05-00-the-mortality-of-nelson-mandela">mortality</a>. </p>
<p>Poetry is an under-explored source of additional reflection. Across the arc of Mandela’s defiant resistance to apartheid, through his incarceration, release and presidential term, his life became poetry. The scope of this corpus is enormous, spanning decades and continents alike. </p>
<p>One major anthology, <a href="http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/halala-madiba-nelson-mandela-poetry">Halala Madiba: Nelson Mandela in Poetry</a>, contains 96 poems from 25 countries. Published in 2005, it includes work by two Nobel laureates, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1986/soyinka-bio.html">Wole Soyinka</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1995/heaney-bio.html">Seamus Heaney</a>. In addition, it features the work of the black revolutionary Cuban poet <a href="https://www.smith.edu/poetrycenter/wp/morejon/">Nancy Morejón</a>, the Jamaican dub-poet <a href="https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/linton-kwesi-johnson">Linton Kwesi Johnson</a>, the Barbadian poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kamau-brathwaite">Kamau Brathwaite</a>, rapper <a href="https://2pac.com/us">Tupac Amaru Shakur</a>, and <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/zindzi-mandela">Zindzi Mandela</a> — Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter. </p>
<p>South African poets, including the late poet laureate <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/keorapetse-william-kgositsile">Keorapetse Kgositsile</a>, also contribute searing local perspectives. Their texts derive from established traditions of oral poetry, protest poetry and prison poetry in South Africa.</p>
<h2>The Island</h2>
<p>During the apartheid years, many of the poems in which Mandela appears, imagine or remember him on <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/916">Robben Island</a>. The island, about 9km west of Cape Town, was used between the 17th and 20th centuries as a prison. Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars imprisoned on it.</p>
<p>For poets detained as a result of their political activism, the place of incarceration is also the place of writing. Poets imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Mandela, like <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/frank-anthony">Frank Anthony</a> and <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/dennis-brutus">Dennis Brutus</a>, take the Island as their subject. </p>
<p>Dennis Brutus (1924-2009), the coloured (mixed race) political activist pivotal to promoting the ban on South Africa’s participation in the Olympics, was arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island between 1963 and 1965 where he occupied the cell next to Mandela. Brutus invokes Mandela directly as both fellow prisoner and figurehead of the struggle. In the poem “Robben Island” written from exile in 1980, the Island becomes a potent site of memory. The poem begins with a slowly unfolding recollection as details of the past move into focus like a replayed, unspooling film. </p>
<p>Brutus initially evokes the deep intimacy of labouring men bent over the stones in the quarry. The speaker is “anonymous”, while the prisoners recalled are initially “faceless”. Their names and faces only materialise gradually: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I see the men beside me </p>
<p>Peake and Alexander </p>
<p>Mandela and Sisulu </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the memory sharpens and gains momentum, so too does the speaker’s apprehension of the historic role of the men he names: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The will to freedom steadily grows </p>
<p>The force, the power, the strength </p>
<p>steadily grows. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Brutus’s poem, Mandela is not differentiated from the other prisoners and is only one of the “marvellous men” whom the poem celebrates. </p>
<p>Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian poet, playwright and Nobel Prize laureate who was himself a political prisoner in Nigeria, addresses the figure of Mandela on Robben Island in the 1988 volume <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/822368.Mandela_s_Earth_And_Other_Poems">Mandela’s Earth</a>. In his poem “No! He Said”, Mandela assumes mythic status. </p>
<p>The Island is both a geographic location and an imagined space of resistance. In this poem, Mandela is Atlas shouldering the universe, part Colossus, part Prometheus, part Christ.</p>
<p>The poem takes as its starting point Mandela’s <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/president-p-w-botha-offers-nelson-mandela-conditional-release-prison">refusal</a> in 1985 to accept release from jail in exchange for renunciation of the legitimacy of the armed struggle against apartheid. In Mandela’s obdurateness and unwillingness to break faith with the struggle, he becomes an emanation of the granite fixedness of the island itself. </p>
<p>The poem rejects any sense that the Island has subdued Mandela, as these lines suggest: “<em>No!</em> I am no prisoner of this rock, this island,/ No ash spew on Milky Ways to conquests old or new./ I am this rock, this island.” </p>
<h2>Outpouring of poetic celebration</h2>
<p>Mandela’s release in 1990 was met by an outpouring of poetic celebration both within South Africa and globally. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney recorded his fierce opposition to the apartheid regime as early as the 1960s. In 1990, he published his play <em>The Cure at Troy</em> – a reworking of Sophocles’ <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672783.001.0001/acprof-9780199672783-chapter-3"><em>Philoctetes</em></a>. The concern in the play with injury, betrayal, suffering and reconciliation was widely seen to mirror the conflict in Ireland. </p>
<p>Inspired by Mandela’s release, Heaney later added a chorus to the play, dedicating it to Mandela. In an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/seamus-heaney-hope-is-something-that-is-there-to-be-worked-for-141727.html">interview</a> with South African journalist Shaun Johnson in 2002, he makes Mandela’s relevance explicit: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It seemed to me to mesh beautifully with Mandela’s return. The act of betrayal, and then the generosity of his coming back and helping with the city – helping the polis to get together again.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although Mandela’s name is not directly mentioned, he is evoked in the now well-known lines: “History says, <em>Don’t hope/ _On this side of the grave.</em>/ But then, once in a lifetime/ The longed-for tidal wave/ Of justice can rise up,/ And hope and history rhyme.”</p>
<p>The chorus celebrates Mandela’s release but it does so through the lens of political extremity in Ireland. Mandela’s example is held out as one of miraculous possibility attesting to the possibility of conciliation and reparation.</p>
<p>Mandela is no longer with us. Routine invocations of his miraculous or even quasi-messianic status that became part of public discourse following his release have themselves dimmed and lost their usefulness. But, attending to Mandela’s legacy in poetry can help to re-familiarise us with the values he embodied, renewing engagement with the ongoing imperative to oppose racism in the name of political equality, constitutional democracy and economic justice in South Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Bethlehem receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013) / European Research Council grant agreement 615564. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karin Berkman receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013) / European Research Council grant agreement 615564. </span></em></p>
Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 was met by an outpouring of poetic celebration both within South Africa and globally.
Louise Bethlehem, Associate professor in Cultural Studies and English, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Karin Berkman, Post-doctoral researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99316
2018-07-06T15:04:43Z
2018-07-06T15:04:43Z
Discovering dopamine’s role in the brain: Arvid Carlsson’s important legacy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226464/original/file-20180706-122256-vkxk93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C78%2C1159%2C622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Swedish pharmacologist and Nobel laureate, Arvid Carlsson.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15189015">Vogler/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arvid Carlsson, the Swedish neuroscientist and Nobel laureate, died on June 29, 2018 at the age of 95. He had devoted his life to understanding how the brain works and was awarded the Nobel for his research into dopamine – an important chemical found in the brain. </p>
<p>So what is dopamine, and why did finding out about it merit the Nobel Prize?</p>
<p>Dopamine is a simple chemical, made in the body from an amino acid called tyrosine. Despite its simplicity, it plays an important role as a neurotransmitter – chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with one another. </p>
<p>What Carlsson did was to reveal exactly how significant dopamine is to the function of the brain. Before his research, most people thought that dopamine was just a precursor of a brain hormone called noradrenaline. By decreasing dopamine levels in the brains of rabbits in his lab in Gothenburg, Carlsson was able to show that if you don’t have the right level of dopamine in your brain, the circuits that determine how the brain controls movement don’t work properly. </p>
<p>Although Carlsson was investigating basic neuroscience, it wasn’t long before scientists and doctors realised that there were similarities between the problems with movement that Carlsson had observed in rabbits and the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. </p>
<p>Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, a type of disease where increasing numbers of brain cells die over time, causing patients to develop problems with their movement, including uncontrollable shaking, slowed movement and sudden freezing. </p>
<p>Following on from Carlsson’s research, doctors soon realised that if they examined the brains of people with Parkinson’s there was much less dopamine than you would find in a healthy brain. This is because the cells that make and use dopamine in the brain, dopaminergic neurons, are the cells that die in Parkinson’s disease.</p>
<p>This led researchers to propose a simple solution. If the symptoms of Parkinson’s are caused by too little dopamine, why not boost these levels, with a dopamine pill or injection, to help the brain work again? </p>
<h2>Awakenings</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, this approach didn’t work, as dopamine isn’t able to cross from the bloodstream into the brain. But providing people with Parkinson’s a precursor to dopamine, a chemical called levodopa that can get into the brain and is converted into dopamine, did work and provided relief from many of the symptoms of Parkinson’s. This was immortalised in the book Awakenings, written by neurologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sacks">Oliver Sacks</a> and later made into a film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4H9ul7pqezs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In Awakenings, patients with post-encephalitic Parkinsonism (a viral disease similar to Parkinson’s disease) who were treated with levodopa, had almost miraculous improvements in their symptoms.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, levodopa, and other drugs that target dopamine levels in the brain, only treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s, they don’t slow down the loss of brain cells that underlie the disease. Despite this, and some serious side effects, they remain the frontline drug in our fight against the disease. But we wouldn’t have these frontline drugs if it wasn’t for the important work that Carlsson conducted in the 1950s, and for which he shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2000.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Lewis receives funding from the Medical Research Council, Parkinson’s UK, the National Institutes of Health and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.</span></em></p>
Unravelling the story of how a simple neurotransmitter led to the development of a drug for Parkinson’s disease.
Patrick Lewis, Associate Professor in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, University of Reading
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/83941
2017-10-11T00:37:18Z
2017-10-11T00:37:18Z
Marie Curie and her X-ray vehicles’ contribution to World War I battlefield medicine
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189262/original/file-20171006-25752-pat0e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Marie Curie in one of her mobile X-ray units in October 1917.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marie_Curie_-_Mobile_X-Ray-Unit.jpg">Eve Curie</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ask people to name the most famous historical woman of science and their answer will likely be: Madame Marie Curie. Push further and ask what she did, and they might say it was something related to <a href="http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=71">radioactivity</a>. (She actually discovered the radioisotopes <a href="https://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2011/3301/5_adloff.html">radium and polonium</a>.) Some might also know that she was the first woman to win a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1911/marie-curie-facts.html">Nobel Prize</a>. (She actually won two.)</p>
<p>But few will know she was also a major hero of World War I. In fact, a visitor to her Paris laboratory 100 years ago would not have found either her or her radium on the premises. Her radium was in hiding and she was at war. </p>
<p>For Curie, the war started in early 1914, as German troops headed toward her hometown of Paris. She knew her scientific research needed to be put on hold. So she gathered her entire stock of radium, put it in a lead-lined container, transported it by train to Bordeaux – 375 miles away from Paris – and left it in a safety deposit box at a local bank. She then returned to Paris, confident that she would reclaim her radium after France had won the war.</p>
<p>With the subject of her life’s work hidden far away, she now needed something else to do. Rather than flee the turmoil, she decided to join in the fight. But just how could a middle-aged woman do that? She decided to redirect her scientific skills toward the war effort; not to make weapons, but to save lives.</p>
<h2>X-rays enlisted in the war effort</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=674&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189249/original/file-20171006-25752-16upvo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">X-ray of a bullet in the heart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bullet_in_heart.jpg">U.S. Army</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.livescience.com/32344-what-are-x-rays.html">X-rays</a>, a type of <a href="https://www.livescience.com/38169-electromagnetism.html">electromagnetic radiation</a>, had been discovered in 1895 by Curie’s fellow Nobel laureate, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1901/rontgen-bio.html">Wilhelm Roentgen</a>. As I describe in my book <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10691.html">“Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation</a>,” almost immediately after their discovery, physicians began using X-rays to image patients’ bones and find foreign objects – like <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/1/1950/1252">bullets</a>.</p>
<p>But at the start of the war, <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/x-ray2.htm">X-ray machines</a> were still found only in city hospitals, far from the battlefields where wounded troops were being treated. Curie’s solution was to invent the first “radiological car” – a vehicle containing an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment – which could be driven right up to the battlefield where army surgeons could use X-rays to guide their surgeries.</p>
<p>One major obstacle was the need for electrical power to produce the X-rays. Curie solved that problem by incorporating a <a href="http://www.edisontechcenter.org/generators.html">dynamo</a> – a type of electrical generator – into the car’s design. The petroleum-powered car engine could thus provide the required electricity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189295/original/file-20171008-25775-tb6ded.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Curie’s mobile units used by the French Army.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb40504352c">Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Frustrated by delays in getting funding from the French military, Curie approached the Union of Women of France. This philanthropic organization gave her the money needed to produce the first car, which ended up playing an important role in treating the wounded at the <a href="http://www.history.com/news/the-first-battle-of-the-marne-100-years-ago">Battle of Marne</a> in 1914 – a major Allied victory that kept the Germans from entering Paris.</p>
<p>More radiological cars were needed. So Curie exploited her scientific clout to ask wealthy Parisian women to donate vehicles. Soon she had 20, which she outfitted with X-ray equipment. But the cars were useless without trained X-ray operators, so Curie started to train women volunteers. She recruited 20 women for the first training course, which she taught along with her daughter <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1935/joliot-curie-facts.html">Irene</a>, a future Nobel Prize winner herself.</p>
<p>The curriculum included theoretical instruction about the physics of electricity and X-rays as well as practical lessons in anatomy and photographic processing. When that group had finished its training, it left for the front, and Curie then trained more women. In the end, a total of 150 women received X-ray training from Curie.</p>
<p>Not content just to send out her trainees to the battlefront, Curie herself had her own <a href="http://sierrawyllie.weebly.com/little-curies.html">“little Curie”</a> – as the radiological cars were nicknamed – that she took to the front. This required her to learn to drive, change flat tires and even master some rudimentary auto mechanics, like cleaning carburetors. And she also had to deal with car accidents. When her driver careened into a ditch and overturned the vehicle, they righted the car, fixed the damaged equipment as best they could and got back to work.</p>
<p>In addition to the mobile little Curies that traveled around the battlefront, Curie also oversaw the construction of 200 radiological rooms at various fixed field hospitals behind the battle lines. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189259/original/file-20171006-25775-dltyvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medics at a French WWI field hospital locating a bullet with X-ray machine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s04120">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>X-rays’ long shadow for Marie Curie</h2>
<p>Although few, if any, of the women X-ray workers were injured as a consequence of combat, they were not without their casualties. Many <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3520298/">suffered burns from overexposure to X-rays</a>. Curie knew that such high exposures posed future health risks, such as cancer in later life. But there had been no time to perfect X-ray safety practices for the field, so many X-ray workers were overexposed. She worried much about this, and later wrote a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radiologie-Guerre-French-Marie-Curie-ebook/dp/B00WZVQBDM">book about X-ray safety</a> drawn from her war experiences. </p>
<p>Curie survived the war but was concerned that her intense X-ray work would ultimately cause her demise. Years later, she did contract <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aplastic-anemia/symptoms-causes/dxc-20266535">aplastic anemia</a>, a blood disorder sometimes produced by high radiation exposure.</p>
<p>Many assumed that her illness was the result of her decades of radium work – it’s well-established that <a href="https://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/documents/fullText/ACC0029.pdf">internalized radium is lethal</a>. But Curie was dismissive of that idea. She had always protected herself from ingesting any radium. Rather, she attributed her illness to the high X-ray exposures she had received during the war. (We will likely never know whether the wartime X-rays contributed to her death in 1934, but a sampling of her remains in 1995 showed her <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/204463756?pq-origsite=gscholar">body was indeed free of radium</a>.)</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189253/original/file-20171006-25775-126uwsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marie Curie and her daughter Irène in the laboratory after WWI.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-photo.html">© Association Curie Joliot-Curie</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As science’s first woman celebrity, Marie Curie can hardly be called an unsung hero. But the common depiction of her as a one-dimensional person, slaving away in her laboratory with the single-minded purpose of advancing science for science’s sake, is far from the truth.</p>
<p>Marie Curie was a multidimensional person, who worked doggedly as both a scientist and a humanitarian. She was a strong patriot of her adopted homeland, having immigrated to France from Poland. And she leveraged her scientific fame for the benefit of her country’s war effort – using the winnings from her second Nobel Prize to buy war bonds and even trying to melt down her Nobel medals to convert them to cash to buy more.</p>
<p>She didn’t allow her gender to hamper her in a male-dominated world. Instead, she mobilized a small army of women in an effort to reduce human suffering and win World War I. Through her efforts, it is estimated that the total number of wounded soldiers receiving X-ray exams during the war exceeded <a href="http://theinstitute.ieee.org/tech-history/technology-history/how-marie-curie-helped-save-a-million-soldiers-during-world-war-i">one million</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy J. Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
During World War I, Marie Curie left her lab behind, inventing a mobile X-ray unit that could travel to the battlefront and training 150 women to operate these ‘Little Curies.’
Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81712
2017-08-04T00:22:41Z
2017-08-04T00:22:41Z
No new Einsteins to emerge if science funding snubs curiosity
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180058/original/file-20170727-8516-tj9pbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The manuscript of 'Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton' shows the words 'does this apple fall?' Newton's curiosity about the falling piece of fruit helped him develop the theory of gravity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Lucy Young)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>All of the great scientific findings of the past emanated from the initiative of individuals spurred by unimpeded curiosity and determination.</p>
<p>Their research was financially supported by themselves or benefactors, and required only the availability of time for contemplation and conjecture.</p>
<p>For several years starting in 1958, when I began my research as an instructor in pharmacology, I had relatively free rein to follow my instincts, ideas and impulses. As a result, I delved into studies in many different areas: neuropharmacology, mechanisms of general anaesthesia, digitalis drugs, receptor pharmacology, endocrinology and aging, to mention a few.</p>
<p>What I consider some of my most significant research findings were the result of curiosity-based screening of chemical compounds <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-5381.1979.tb08686.x/pdf">in receptor-binding assays</a> — or the type of work often denigrated by grant application reviewers who earmark research dollars as “fishing expeditions.”</p>
<p>Another fishing expedition embarked upon with my colleague, the late Carl Pinsky, also led to the development of a patented electronic sensor, which, in turn, led to the formation of a venture-capital funded company.</p>
<h2>‘The more papers, the better’</h2>
<p>But over the years, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dr-no-money/">a formidable bureaucracy</a> has taken hold at universities as research “productivity” became an obsession. The aforementioned fishing expeditions were no longer an option. Grant success became dependent on publication — the more papers, the better. </p>
<p>Therefore, academics and researchers had to focus on well-designed research proposals that could generate steady, reliable data output. Any diversions that might stimulate curiosity, generate enthusiasm or uncover new avenues of potentially ground-breaking exploration, but not directly related to funded projects, would only diminish productivity.</p>
<p>Commonly, two- or three-year funding for research is awarded by government granting agencies, or by one of many relevant foundations. Grant renewal relies on a satisfactory evaluation of the research achievement for that period. </p>
<p>This bureaucratic regimen unfortunately reveals a demoralizing ignorance of the efforts required to establish and maintain an efficiently functioning research facility. Furthermore, it subjects the researcher to repetitive, lengthy and enervating periods of grant application red tape.</p>
<p>Dissatisfaction with the ever-burgeoning research bureaucracy is global. </p>
<h2>Scientists complain</h2>
<p>A few years ago, Nobel Laureate Dr. Harold Varmus became head of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Upon his arrival, he was told by hordes of dissatisfied applicants for biomedical research grants that innovative proposals beyond the mainstream were uniformly rejected, year after year.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/16/5773.full">Varmus addressed this apparent deficiency</a> with one fell swoop — he mandated that innovation was to be one of the primary criteria by which research proposals were evaluated. </p>
<p>And in 2014, more than 30 leading scientists, including four Nobel Laureates, also wrote to Great Britain’s <em>The Telegraph</em> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10870995/Nobel-winners-say-scientific-discovery-virtually-impossible-due-to-funding-bureaucracy.html">to deplore the current system of granting funding</a> for scientific research: “Sustained open-ended enquiries in controversial or unfashionable fields are virtually forbidden today and science is in serious danger of stagnating.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/10870609/The-damaging-bureaucracy-of-academic-peer-preview.html">They added</a> that the “major scientific discoveries of the 20th century would not have happened under today’s funding rules.”</p>
<h2>Newton was an alchemist</h2>
<p>Isaac Newton (1643-1727) is a perfect example. His contributions include the optics of colour, a brilliant neuro-anatomical concept of binocular vision, the laws of motion, universal gravitation, the general binomial theorem and the differential and the integral calculus. Furthermore, it’s now well-documented that Newton’s reading list of <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/05/newton-papers-q-and-a/">theological works</a> was awe-inspiring. </p>
<p>Newton also spent endless hours dabbling in <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jul-aug/05-isaac-newton-worlds-most-famous-alchemist">experimental alchemy.</a> </p>
<p>Alchemists were considered misfits for a long time by the scientific establishment of the day. But Newton was obviously ahead of his time as he explored <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-lead-can-be-turned-into-gold/">transmutation,</a> the transformation of one element to another. It actually does occur naturally and can be effected artificially in nuclear reactors and particle accelerators.</p>
<p>Newton also wrote the monumental tome, <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ADV-B-00039-00001/1">Principia Mathematica</a>, but the number of his publications annually was well below average compared to our current crop of funded researchers, and most papers were not published in top-tier journals. There was even a period of 11 years during which Newton published nothing at all. </p>
<p>In today’s world, Newton probably would have been accused by funding agencies of spreading himself too thin. Furthermore, his ideas were so beyond the mainstream that they would have neither been understood nor sanctioned by his peer critics at today’s journal and grant agency panels.</p>
<h2>Focus is on collaboration</h2>
<p>The primary function of these review bodies is to ensure that only focused, comprehensively detailed experimental protocols and steadily productive projects are funded, and only statistically validated data that is easily reproduced is published. </p>
<p>What that means, sadly, is that any proposal must be understood and approved by even the least knowledgeable panel member.</p>
<p>“Multidisciplinary” is a relatively recent catchword vigorously embraced by granting agencies. </p>
<p>No longer is there unquestioned support for the curiosity-driven research traditionally associated with individual scientists delving into their own hunches and embarking upon scientific fishing expeditions. If they collaborate with biologists, engineers and chemists, all the better. The public, government and granting agencies want more bang for the buck — multidisciplinary research that yields practical applications for the real world. </p>
<p>But that flies in the face of the fact that virtually every major scientific discovery, from the time of the ancient Greeks <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1983/mcclintock-bio.html">to present day,</a> was achieved by an individual driven almost solely by curiosity.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180062/original/file-20170727-27682-7d5qxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">German-born theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, in 1955.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO ARCHIVE/ AP Photo/File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Would the young Albert Einstein have conceived theories, ultimately confirmed by others, that space is curved, time is not constant, black holes exist, gravitational waves permeate the universe and E=mc2 had he been corralled into a collaboration with a group of scientists working on a specific, conventional research program? Einstein won a Nobel Prize for his work on <a href="http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae24.cfm">the photoelectric effect.</a></p>
<p>There’s an urgent need for a radical change in the philosophy and mentality of research funding bodies. </p>
<p>It’s time to establish a mechanism that provides career investigators with long-term, secure funding. An evaluation panel to select outstanding candidates for long-term support should be comprised of accomplished senior scientists.</p>
<p>In light of the ingrained policies, procedures and staffing of both university and governmental research administrations, such a reformation is unlikely to happen at any reasonable pace, if at all. </p>
<p>A more feasible approach would be the creation of new public foundations specifically dedicated to providing long-term, stable funding to scientists. Such foundations would allow investigators to concentrate their energies on research, not on the need to constantly validate their activities in order to qualify for renewed funding.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank LaBella during his career has received research funds and salary support from several government and public granting bodies. </span></em></p>
Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein would have bridled under today’s research funding bureaucracy. It’s time to allow scientists to indulge their curiosity again.
Frank LaBella, Professor Emeritus, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Manitoba
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80079
2017-06-26T12:09:39Z
2017-06-26T12:09:39Z
Why I disagree with Nobel Laureates when it comes to career advice for scientists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175613/original/file-20170626-12696-1lne0tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A successful science career is founded in a solid publication track record. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blur-image-picture-library-background-resources-604328939?src=qPj0vTRi0ancc1ZsVM9T1w-3-88">Thiranun Kunatum/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The measures by which we judge scientists are always under intense scrutiny. For those who hit the peak of their field, there’s the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/">Nobel Prize</a>. But across all levels of career progression, we publish research papers in journals whose importance or rank can be communicated via a number known as the <a href="http://researchguides.uic.edu/if/impact">Journal Impact Factor</a>. </p>
<p>The much respected Nobel Prize Twitter site <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize">@NobelPrize</a> recently tweeted an impressive video with four Nobel Laureates speaking out against Journal Impact Factors. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"877804020345262080"}"></div></p>
<p>My view is that the Nobel Laureates are right in theory. But I cannot advise the junior researchers I mentor to ignore Impact Factors. </p>
<p>Although imperfect, Impact Factors retain some validity. But more importantly, deep down, I know that as the world of research expands and as people become increasingly specialised, the use of proxy metrics, like Journal Impact Factors and citations, will increase not decrease.</p>
<h2>Criticism of Journal Impact Factors</h2>
<p>Nobel Laureates Peter Doherty, Bruce Beutler, Joseph Goldstein and Paul Nurse aren’t alone in their criticism of Journal Impact Factors. </p>
<p>The widely supported <a href="http://www.ascb.org/files/SFDeclarationFINAL.pdf">San Francisco Declaration</a> makes the same point – you can’t judge the quality of research by just looking at the Journal Impact Factor.</p>
<p>Australia’s major medical research funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council is also officially opposed to Impact Factors and has essentially <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/grants/peer/impact%20factors%20in%20peer%20review_1.pdf">outlawed reporting them</a> in grant applications. </p>
<p>The Australian Research Council once had a list of A star, A, B and C ratings for journals in its Excellence in Research Australia research assessment exercise but has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/end-of-an-era-journal-rankings-dropped/news-story/923b52a699c02a659bad88c20157fc0d">now abandoned that list</a> and recommends against institutions continuing to use it.</p>
<p>In theory all these august bodies are correct. Impact Factors represent the average number of citations for each paper in the journal over a two year period. They are unreliable. They can be gamed in various ways, such as including a lot of reviews in a journal, and they can be heavily influenced by one or two “jackpot” papers.</p>
<p>In summary, Journal Impact Factors are a crude short cut to the proper job of estimating quality – they are a type of pre-judgement, a prejudice.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You don’t have to be tall to be good at basketball. But it certainly helps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/520431253?src=ULmZ2z27FofFnjPl4jICmQ-2-62&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Picking a researcher or a grant application on the basis of Impact Factors is like selecting a basketball team on the basis of one single metric – like the height of the players.</p>
<p>It’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>But hold on – have you ever looked at the heights of players in any professional basketball team?</p>
<p>Nearly all the players are giants.</p>
<h2>Standing tall among giants</h2>
<p>I would love to take the Laureates’ advice, and read the papers and judge the science on its own merits. But sadly I am only expert in a very small area. I am not capable of critically analysing most of the research I come across.</p>
<p>It is not that peer review doesn’t work. It works for publications. I only review papers in the small field where I truly am an expert. But when it comes to grant review or making academic appointments I am often out of my field.</p>
<p>So I confess. I do look at Impact Factors. I look at citation metrics. I even count papers.</p>
<p>I regret to say that in reviewing perhaps a hundred grants or job applications and trying to find the ten grants to fund or one person to employ, I do not read every paper in the bibliography and assess the research on the basis of my limited understanding. I just don’t have the time or expertise to read and judge all the papers.</p>
<p>I pick my basketball team in part based on the player’s height and past match statistics. I want the people I appoint to get grants in the future and I suspect other grant reviewers also look at metrics too, so I can’t ignore them.</p>
<h2>What is the best advice for young researchers?</h2>
<p>In their video the Nobel Laureates said that doing sustained, solid, research was the best way to build a reputation. But with grant <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants-funding/outcomes-funding-rounds">success rates</a> <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/selection-report-discovery-projects-2016">falling to less than 20%</a>, it is not clear solid research alone will be enough to sustain a lab. So while the advice to downplay Impact Factors is good for established researchers, this is not always feasible for junior researchers.</p>
<p>When I was starting out I also lamented the fact that those in authority seemed to want everything – lots of papers, and papers in journals with high Impact Factors, as well as preliminary data prior to the grant even being funded.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young scientists need resilience to keep their careers moving forwards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86083886@N02/20782393286/in/photolist-xEtctC-xGCwEn-UiRpbP-xHq1hx-wKMtU3-xGNooT-wKVMFD-xGMQqK-tFas7p-ukypoR-uBz1L1-ukqrVG-uBz1iN-ukyoma-uC1yQ4-uni9Kk-tEZwUw-tFaoqg-uC1qbF-tFarpH-tFanxz-ukpUzy-uC1vUp-tFaqnc-uzFNZs-uByWYm-tEZgvq-uzFNTW-ukq8HN-ukykTe-uQWdpa-ukym8H-qrALKa-GqbJsA-uye6GP-uBz2zq-uCeuRx-qHT9vi-tYzHak-tYzHuD-xEtXJG-tYzHp8-uQMu4D-xqcrNN-HDhCp2-tEZsMJ-xq8dHZ-wE9wib-uT7f4A-wKCg3j">86083886@N02/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A wise colleague looked at me with raised eyebrows and said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought you were meant to be smart. You’re meant to work it out. </p>
<p>You’re meant to balance your research so you deliver some solid work, and some high impact papers, and to manage your resources to produce preliminary data for new applications, while simultaneously delivering on the main research goals of your current grant or start up funding.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think this was good advice. It is up to each of us to optimise our output. Aim as high as you can but don’t be silly and waste your career trying to lodge one paper in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a> at all costs.</p>
<p>Those in academic management do not want to make the wrong decisions and only use Impact Factors and other metrics as one indicator and often as a last resort. They, and you, should consider your whole portfolio. Concentrate on these things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Produce a number of first author papers in any Impact Factor journal. New journals such as PLoSONE will publish solid work that isn’t world shattering in its significance. The ability to initiate and wrap up multiple projects is highly valued</p></li>
<li><p>Establish a focus and academic reputation for being an expert in one area or technique, especially in something that is on the up</p></li>
<li><p>Collaborate with one or perhaps two leading labs but do not spread yourself too thinly</p></li>
<li><p>Do aim for high Impact Factor papers but know when to give up – knowing when to give up is actually more important than clinging to your dreams and never saying die (something that is dangerously over-rated in my view!)</p></li>
<li><p>Most importantly, ask yourself whether you are enjoying it and whether you can handle the hard knocks that research delivers – others can sense this, and tend to support people who have resilience in their DNA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Impact Factors and citations aren’t perfect, but nor are they worthless. Metrics are simply indicators or messengers; in themselves, they are not really the problem. </p>
<p>The problem is the rapidly escalating level of competition for grants and jobs. In our world, as it exists, one has to take many measures into account and my expectation is that hard, cold, imperfect numbers will continue to be important in science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merlin Crossley receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is on the Editorial Board of The Conversation, and of BioEssays, and on the Board of the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) and the Trust of the Australian Museum.</span></em></p>
Journal Impact Factors are unreliable and may be gamed. But can they still offer value?
Merlin Crossley, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Professor of Molecular Biology, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/67219
2016-10-19T01:02:38Z
2016-10-19T01:02:38Z
America’s Nobel success is the story of immigrants
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142227/original/image-20161018-15108-77suz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What does the Nobel mean for America?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/entirelyamelia/10397523303/in/photolist-gQN2ra-ifKzVn-aHGFTt-ifKmqD-pbPMav-ifKHXe-ifJRYt-ifKtHU-ifKJHc-aTfCDD-pbR2tB-pbQKib-ifKHn9-pbRiJ2-ifKyU4-ifLbhP-ifK9xG-ifKnEG-ifKBPn-ifKqpt-ifKsVb-oZmacH-ifKS7S-ifK6Gj-ifKkvx-aBLEg5-aBLF5L-aBLEio-aTcrQ4-aTfRyv-aTfZTH-aBHZwe-ifKc8R-aBLDRN-gDgYNk-aBHZRx-aTfEGx-9vBMjS-aTfPix-ifKg4g-aTfzRT-aTfST6-64Wh4T-aTfWLR-aTfXHF-767zoo-aTfxQX-aTg2on-aTfQCK-aTfZ1D">Amelia Gapin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If it were not for <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-are-bob-dylans-songs-literature-67061">Bob Dylan</a> – the singer, songwriter and now <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-bob-dylan-isnt-the-first-lyricist-to-win-the-nobel-67023">Nobel laureate</a> – 2016 would have become the first year since 1999 without a Nobel winner born in the United States. </p>
<p>Since World War II, the U.S. has dominated the four research <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org">Nobels</a> (in medicine, chemistry, physics and economics). It did so <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/nobel-prizes-1557">this year</a> too. But there was a difference: None of the nine scholars who shared the four research Nobel Prizes in 2016 was born in the United States. However, as many as six of the winners work at U.S. universities and now call the United States as their home. </p>
<p>In other words, this year, as in so many others, America’s Nobel success was a story of immigrants. At a time when <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigration-five-essential-reads-64656">immigration</a> has become a hot-button issue, this fact <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/1011/Why-Nobel-winning-scientists-are-talking-about-immigration-video">did not go unnoticed</a>, including by the White House. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"786652827129032704"}"></div></p>
<p>So why does this matter?</p>
<p>I have been associated with U.S. academia for a quarter-century – first as a student from Pakistan and then as a researcher, a teacher and more recently a university administrator. I have experienced the magical embrace of U.S. higher education firsthand.</p>
<p>I believe the diversity of the Nobel winners is a testimony to the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091380409604964?journalCode=vchn20">spectacular exceptionalism of U.S. higher education</a>: U.S. academic institutions attract, welcome, embrace and ultimately benefit from the best intellectual talent from all corners of the world.</p>
<h2>Race to the top</h2>
<p>There are many things that make American higher education truly exceptional. Immigration, and the ease and openness of U.S. academia to scholars from across the world, is certainly not the only one. </p>
<p>But, it is an important one. </p>
<p>In fact, many other <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/688061468337210820/The-road-to-academic-excellence-the-making-of-world-class-research-universities">countries are trying hard</a>, though less successfully, to replicate the U.S. experience. For example, countries such as Singapore, South Korea, even Saudi Arabia, which are investing heavily in <a href="http://www.nyas.org/publications/Detail.aspx?cid=e34a05fe-3f4b-4a80-a320-9e37fc36c5dd">building their own research universities</a>, begin by trying to attract top researchers from across the world. They offer them incentives such as outstanding facilities and lucrative salaries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142228/original/image-20161018-15089-qjlnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nobel Academy in Stockholm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/williamjm/20182617176/in/photolist-wKtbWd-wNib7K-5hiNWT-4yQy2p-6BSsma-6BWpKE-9vjvea-xt3dW-mc5hL-86sL44-7mU5Dp-5LNtTx-5GN7Lo-dsHqQ6-fRWPd-nvPMMz-aTbrbe-2kofaH-8KxqBa-8KxoPM-B81KPK-BX8Vpn-nvQ2bj-nvPLHF-8KAuzy-8KxoSM-8KAq4q-8KxodB-8Kxqqi-8KAsdE-6AnZuU-DG8gF1-cBzDyE-P7qyr-CYqDF-8KAqJh-aUTmdH-8KxoW2-yVRAm-GoqJeT-9bBdFG-uv7Pc-gZmLg-nN2mxt-utgDm-8KAsr7-aDzt2-8KxoH2-3iAxUz-CubFoJ">William Marnoch</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such incentives help. But they are not enough. U.S. universities are quite unique in the way they welcome and embrace talent, which helps attract the best in the world. </p>
<p>The journey of Nobel laureate <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1999/zewail-bio.html">Ahmed H. Zewail</a> (who received the Nobel for chemistry in 1999) is illustrative of the exceptionalism of U.S. higher education and the culture of openness. <a href="http://www.aucpress.com/p-3058-voyage-through-time.aspx">Writing about his journey</a> from his native Egypt to U.S. academia, Zewail describes how he was embraced by all the universities he was part of – whether as a student at University of Pennsylvania, as a postdoc at University of California, Berkeley or as a professor at California Institute of Technology. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My science family came from all over the world and members were of varied backgrounds, cultures, and abilities. The diversity in this ‘small world’ I worked in daily provided the most stimulating environment, with many challenges and much optimism.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>America’s research excellence</h2>
<p>The history of the Nobel awards is, in fact, a rather neat lens through which we can see this play out.</p>
<p>The very first American to win a Nobel in the sciences was <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-facts.html">Albert A. Michelson</a>. He was awarded the prize in 1907 for his research on the measurement of the speed of light. Michelson’s parents had immigrated to the United States from Strzelno in then Prussia, now Poland, when he was only two years old.</p>
<p>Since its inception in 1901, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/all/">579 times to 911 people and organizations</a>. The U.S. alone has had more than 350 Nobel winners. More than 100 of these have been immigrants and <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/countries.html">individuals born outside of the United States</a>. </p>
<p>No other country comes close. The two countries apart from the U.S. that can claim <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11926364/Nobel-Prize-winners-Which-country-has-the-most-Nobel-laureates.html">more than 100 laureates</a> are the United Kingdom and Germany. What is noteworthy is that a number of winners of both these countries were living and working in the U.S. when they were awarded their Nobel. </p>
<p>In fact, if it were to be a category of its own, immigrants to the U.S. who won the Nobel, would would come second only to the U.S.-born laureates group. Their number exceeds that of laureates <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/countries.html">born in any single country</a>. </p>
<p>The point is the global movement of intellect and ideas is often necessary and perhaps central to the creation of knowledge and production of great research. The United States has both immensely contributed to and benefited from the excellence of such research. </p>
<p>With increasing globalization, this trend will not slow down. If anything, this trend is on the rise and is likely to continue. Consider, for example, the research Nobels awarded to those in the United States in the last two years. Of the ten laureates who live, teach and work in the United States, all but one were born outside the U.S, and six studied in U.S. universities. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/v0hnv/3/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="725"></iframe>
<h2>Attacks on openness are misguided</h2>
<p>Great research is a truly global enterprise. In context of <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigration-five-essential-reads-64656">current conversations on immigration</a> – and the notion that somehow immigrants might be thwarting America’s “greatness” – it is instructive to note just how much of America’s great success in Nobel Prizes has come because of immigrants. </p>
<p>Attacks on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-wrong-to-blame-immigrants-for-our-sputtering-economies-56324">American openness</a> are not just <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/1011/Why-Nobel-winning-scientists-are-talking-about-immigration-video">misguided</a>, they are <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Trump-Presidency-Could-Keep/236662">self-defeating</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/before-trump-proposed-his-border-wall-vigilantes-made-it-a-national-obsession-58909">Trump supporters</a> in the United States – much like <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigration-rhetoric-is-a-threat-to-britains-long-term-growth-27248">Brexit supporters</a> across the Atlantic – seem worried that this embrace of the outsider is making America less great. </p>
<p>As America’s Nobel success testifies, they could not be more wrong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adil Najam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Immigrants have contributed to America’s great success at the Nobel. Of the 350 Nobel winners from the United States, more than 100 have been immigrants.
Adil Najam, Dean, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64979
2016-10-02T19:16:08Z
2016-10-02T19:16:08Z
20 years on, what impact has the Nobel Prize for medicine had on our immune systems?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139530/original/image-20160928-721-bxiain.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The science is now used to tackle a range of diseases.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-379602502/stock-photo-close-up-image-of-thermometer-showing-high-temperature.html?src=G4eiVm8wzr1ZH5q3QbC0bw-4-45">tuthelens/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This time of year, Australians obsess over an annual spectacle that celebrates the achievements of our most gifted citizens – though usually, they’re fixating on their respective football codes.</p>
<p>But an even bigger prize is up for grabs tonight – the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It’s the first of a big week celebrating the international heroes who receive Nobel Prizes for a range of disciplines, from physics, to economics, to literature.</p>
<p>Twenty years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel “for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence”. </p>
<h2>What did they find?</h2>
<p>Doherty and Zinkernagel made their Nobel-winning discovery while working at Canberra’s Australian National University (ANU) in the early 1970s. Doherty, a veterinarian from Queensland, had only just returned to Canberra to set up a laboratory as an independent scientist. Zinkernagel had come to the ANU from Switzerland in 1973 to do his PhD. </p>
<p>The pair happened to share a lab and started talking. A year later, they co-authored two landmark papers in Nature, the Rolls-Royce journal for scientists in all disciplines globally.</p>
<p>Doherty and Zinkernagel had discovered how one critical part of the immune system, the T-cell, recognised and killed virus-infected cells. These killer T-cells patrol our bodies looking for foreign enemies – such as infections or cancer cells – and then move in to attack. </p>
<p>What Doherty and Zinkernagel discovered was the exquisite elegance with which the killer T-cells recognise the enemy. </p>
<p>They proved a radical new idea of how T-cells worked by recognising an “altered self”: the enemy (for example, a virus) could only be recognised when it was presented in combination with the body’s own machinery. </p>
<p>The body’s protein alone or the virus alone didn’t generate the molecular target for the killer T-cell to recognise. </p>
<p>Sounds simple, but the concept was revolutionary.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139534/original/image-20160928-725-1pygwmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doherty and Zinkernagel discovered how killer T-cells recognise the enemy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-297770426/stock-photo-a-microcopic-view-of-virus-with-depth-of-field.html?src=ZQfKytBY2Vw9l1_o9fghmw-1-15">Tischenko Irina/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the time, Doherty and Zinkernagel were studying mice infected with a virus called <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lcm/">lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus</a> (LCMV). But they and others went on to demonstrate that exactly the same process is used to tackle diseases as diverse as influenza, HIV and cancer. The implications of their findings have been spectacular and far-reaching.</p>
<p>In Doherty’s Nobel speech, given in 1996 in Stockholm, he credited for his success the local intellectual environment in Canberra, the excellence in immunology across Australia and that there was “time to discuss and think things through” in the pre-fax, pre-email days. I suspect there was a bit more to it!</p>
<h2>What does it mean for patients?</h2>
<p>Doherty and Zinkernagel’s insights into how killer T-cells recognise the enemy proved crucial for understanding how viral infections are controlled. More practically, this understanding now shapes modern treatment strategies for cancer and the design of vaccines.</p>
<p>To recover from the common flu, for example, we need T-cells and antibodies, another arm of the immune system. And recent findings by Katherine Kedzierska, a former trainee with Doherty, have shown how T-cell “memory” protects us against the flu. </p>
<p>Following HIV infection, as in flu, people also generate loads of antibodies and killer T-cells. Neither get rid of HIV completely in anyone. But in some people with the right genetic make-up and the right virus, they manage to keep the virus under control.</p>
<p>The explanation? These so-called “elite controllers” make stunningly potent killer T-cells that are able to recognise part of the HIV virus together with part of the body’s immune system. </p>
<p>This finding in HIV-infected elite controllers has revamped our approach to searching for a successful HIV vaccine. We don’t have one yet, but most think that generating effective killer T-cells will be critical.</p>
<p>Great strides have been made in the last few years about how to harness killer T-cells for cancer therapy. These drugs have literally just hit the clinic – only 12 months ago in Australia – with some spectacular results. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139535/original/image-20160928-716-1q1u6l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cancer immunotherapy has just become available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-425741998/stock-photo-forceps-holding-vial.html?src=SY8_0juucQrzLp_fIahHdQ-1-25">CI Photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In cancer (and in chronic infections such as HIV and indeed LCMV), killer T-cells can become exhausted. They are massively outnumbered by the enemy and they surrender. </p>
<p>New drugs can now revitalise these exhausted T-cells, returning them to their fighting-fit selves. These drugs have transformed the outlook for some cancers, such as melanoma and lung cancer, but only in some people. There are still many puzzles to be solved in this new era of immunotherapy.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>After 14 years in the United States working at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Doherty returned to Australia and the University of Melbourne in 2002. He continued to train and mentor generations of scientists, many of whom still work on killer T-cells and how they tackle viruses like influenza.</p>
<p>The tools of modern immunology have changed. But the principles of good science – intense curiosity to solve a problem, asking the right question and planning the right experiments – are the same now as in 1973.</p>
<p>In 2014, the Doherty Institute was opened. As patron and namesake, Peter still loves to talk science and to interact with young researchers. A joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, the institute has more than 700 staff, all working on infection and immunity. </p>
<p>From basic discovery research, through to clinical and translational research and public health, the institute has the vision to improve health globally through discovery research and the prevention, treatment and cure of infectious diseases. To achieve this ambitious goal, we will use the same principles of great science, “time to talk and think things through” and the humanitarian values of its namesake to continue Peter’s legacy.</p>
<p>Tonight when we hear the next inspiring stories from the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, we should be immensely proud of what Peter Doherty and our own scientists have achieved – and what’s yet to come.</p>
<p><em>Thanks to Professor Andrew Brooks and Associate Professor Katherine Kedzierska for helpful discussions and input.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Lewin receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the National Institutes for Health, The Wellcome Trust and the American Foundation for AIDS Research and investigator initiated research funding from Viiv, Merck and Gilead Sciences.</span></em></p>
Peter Doherty’s Nobel Prize-winning insights proved crucial for understanding how viral infections are controlled.
Sharon Lewin, Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital and Consultant Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/47721
2015-10-07T13:32:50Z
2015-10-07T13:32:50Z
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for work on natural DNA repair
<p>The <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/">Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2015</a> has been awarded jointly to Sweden’s Tomas Lindahl, USA’s Paul Modrich and Turkish-born <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/sancar-facts.html">Aziz Sancar</a> for their discoveries in the field of natural DNA repair. </p>
<p>Natural DNA repair is necessary for our survival. Every day, damage occurs to our DNA, whether from external factors such as UV light, smoking, radiation or carcinogens or from the natural mistakes that happen continuously in replication of such large amount of code. If these mistakes were not repaired the DNA would decay into chaos – a word not usually a good sign for successful biology. </p>
<p>Lindahl, Modrich and Sangar beat off strong competition from the team behind the genome editing technique <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-crispr-technology-brings-precise-genetic-editing-and-raises-ethical-questions-39219">CRISPR/CAS9</a> which many had been considered the strongest contender in the area of molecular biology.</p>
<p><strong>Tomas Lindahl</strong>: Challenging the early thinking that DNA is stable, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/lindahl-facts.html">Lindahl</a> who currently works at the <a href="http://www.crick.ac.uk/">Francis Crick Institute</a> and <a href="http://crick.ac.uk/research/laboratory-sites/clare-hall/history/">Clare Hall Laboratory</a> in the UK showed that mistakes and problems occur much more often than is possible for life to develop on Earth without repair mechanisms.</p>
<p>He then went on to discover one of these mechanisms, base-excision repair, which removes incorrect bases from the genome and replaces it with the correct one (see video below). </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Base-excision repair.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Paul Modrich</strong>:Working closely with Matthew Meselson from Harvard University, Modrich, now at Duke University in the USA, was interested in DNA signalling and repair. They noticed that mismatched DNA (for example adenine (A) being paired with cytosine ( C ) instead of thymine (T)), which can happen during DNA replication and recombination, can be naturally repaired by a mechanism called “DNA mismatch repair”. </p>
<p>This is triggered when a specific signalling unit, a so called “methyl group” (consisting of three hydrogen atoms bonded to a carbon atom) is not present. These methyl groups act as signposts, helping a particular restriction enzyme to come and cut the DNA strand at the correct location to repair it.</p>
<p><strong>Aziz Sancar:</strong> <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/sancar-facts.html">Sancar’s story</a> is a screenwriter’s dream. He was a trained and practising physician who was so interested in biochemistry that he decided to retrain. He was forced into a technician job at Yale University after being unable to secure a postdoctoral research position. While at Yale, he discovered the mechanism by which the enzyme <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1406264">exinuclease</a> finds the UV-damaged DNA and cuts the strand, allowing it to be replaced with non-damaged bases by <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-DNA-Polymerase.aspx">DNA polymerase</a>. </p>
<p>The discovery of the mechanism, which he called “Nucleotide Excision Repair”, led to a job offer of an associate professorship at the University of North Carolina, where he remains today. Aziz Sancar is the first Turkish winner of a Nobel Prize.</p>
<h2>Potential for cancer treatment</h2>
<p>These discoveries are hugely important as they deepen our understanding of how we function at a basic biochemical level. Understanding of these mechanisms is essential in the development of new treatment types for an endless number of diseases which have an effect on human DNA. </p>
<p>This certainly applies to cancer treatments, because many anti-cancer drugs actually damage DNA. So when developing a new drug, it is crucially important to know whether cancer cells can repair these damages.</p>
<p>When announcing the prize, Claes Gustafsson, a member of the Nobel assembly, <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2015/announcement.html">commented</a> that there are now drugs being developed based on knowledge of cancer cells that have a defect repair system. By learning from this, they are trying to find ways to actually inhibit repair in cancer cells to be able to destroy them. “This is a very interesting concept that is currently being developed and I think there are a number of different pharmaceutical industries that are currently looking into this,” he said.</p>
<h2>Controversy?</h2>
<p>As usual, the Nobel Prize committee is never far from controversy. The award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to scientists working in molecular biology may cause many chemists to question the decision, especially as it seems to be happening more and more.</p>
<p>But you can also look at it in the opposite way and actually celebrate the fact that chemistry has gone straight to the heart of so many scientific fields. If we want to deliver on Alfred Nobel’s will to bestow “prizes to those who… have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” then it is certainly right that we’re looking at all the applications of chemistry. </p>
<p>It also can’t be left unsaid that the tradition of under-representation of women in the Nobel Prize for Chemistry unfortunately continues, with only four winners since 1901.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Without natural DNA repair processes we wouldn’t be here. This year’s Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry helped us crack how it all works.
Benjamin Burke, Molecular Imaging Post-Doctoral Research Assistant, University of Hull
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/48702
2015-10-06T16:01:15Z
2015-10-06T16:01:15Z
Physics duo wins the Nobel Prize for solving longstanding neutrino puzzle
<p>Canada’s Arthur B McDonald and Japan’s Takaaki Kajita have won this year’s
<a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2015/popular-physicsprize2015.pdf">Nobel Prize in Physics</a> for their surprising discovery that tiny, subatomic particles called neutrinos have mass. </p>
<p>Their experimental results forced scientists to rethink the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-standard-model-of-particle-physics-2539">“Standard Model” of particle physics</a> that had successfully explained all observations of the subatomic world for decades.</p>
<h2>What are neutrinos?</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-elusive-neutrino-431">Neutrinos</a> are produced when radioactive isotopes decay and have been shrouded in mystery ever since <a href="http://www.library.ethz.ch/exhibit/pauli/neutrino_e.html">Wolfgang Pauli</a> first proposed them in 1930. In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-standard-model-of-particle-physics-2539">Standard Model</a>, they were assumed to have no mass (like particles of light, photons) and be neutral (lacking electric charge). This would also explain why neutrinos usually pass straight through matter without interacting, making them extremely difficult to detect. Enormous instruments are required to observe them in sufficient numbers to study their properties.</p>
<p>Neutrinos were first directly observed by the <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/cowan.html">Cowan-Reines experiment</a> in 1956, using neutrinos from a nuclear reactor and two large tanks of water. If a neutrino interacted with a nucleus in the detector, this would result in a flash of light that could be picked up by photomultiplier tubes that were sandwiched between the tanks. Frederick Reines was <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1995/">awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995</a> for this work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97494/original/image-20151006-7378-78xoob.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where the neutrino fits in the subatomic family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg">MissMJ - Own work by uploader, PBS NOVA, Fermilab, Office of Science, United States Department of Energy, Particle Data Group</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, when detectors became sensitive enough to observe neutrinos created in nuclear reactions in the Sun, scientists faced a big problem.
They had calculated the amount of neutrinos from the Sun that should be hitting the Earth, but observed only <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.20.1205">a third of this number</a> in their experiments. A further Nobel Prize was presented to <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2002/">Ray Davis in 2002</a> for this discovery. The mystery of these missing neutrinos was coined the “solar neutrino problem” and remained a puzzle for forty years, until the collaborations led by Kajita and McDonald made their exciting discovery.</p>
<h2>Underground discovery</h2>
<p>There are three different types, or “flavour”, of neutrino – electron, muon and tau – which have slightly different mass and can interact with other particles in different ways.</p>
<p>In 1998, Kajita, who now works at the <a href="http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.html">University of Tokyo</a>, announced that the <a href="http://www-sk.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/sk/index-e.html">Super-Kamiokande experiment</a> in Japan had found that <a href="http://www.ps.uci.edu/%7Esuperk/oscillation.html">neutrinos “oscillate”</a> between these flavours, which is possible thanks to the strange rules of quantum mechanics.</p>
<p>Super-Kamiokande detected muon-neutrinos coming straight from the atmosphere above, as well as those hitting the detector from below after having travelled through the Earth. Since neutrinos barely interact, there should be equal numbers of neutrinos coming from the two directions. However, the muon-neutrinos that came straight down to Super-Kamiokande were more numerous than those that had passed through the planet. This indicated that muon-neutrinos that travelled longer had more time to oscillate into tau-neutrinos that could evade the detectors.</p>
<p>These results were confirmed in 2001 by Arthur B McDonald, based at <a href="http://www.queensu.ca/">Queen’s University</a> in Canada, and the <a href="http://astro-canada.ca/_en/a2115.php">Sudbury National Observatory</a> collaboration, this time by detecting oscillations of neutrinos from the Sun. By carefully observing the interactions of neutrinos with “<a href="http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/151882?lang=en&region=GB">heavy water</a>”, they were able to determine the total number of neutrinos, as well as the fraction of electron-neutrinos. They crucially showed that there were no missing neutrinos, once all the flavours had been taken into account.</p>
<p>The discovery of Kajita and McDonald solved the solar neutrino problem as it could explain where the missing neutrinos had gone; they simply changed flavour on their way from the Sun to the detector, meaning that they couldn’t be recorded. It also showed that the Standard Model was incomplete, as such oscillations are impossible in the absence of neutrino masses.</p>
<p>From their pioneering work, the neutrino field has boomed across the world, with experiments in every continent. Now that we know neutrinos have mass, we need new theories to explain how they acquire it. If new fundamental particles are responsible for neutrino masses, one of them could account for dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up the vast majority of the matter in the Universe. Work is ongoing in this area and exciting discoveries may be just around the corner.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Wilkinson receives funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celine Boehm receives funding from STFC. </span></em></p>
One of tiniest particles in physics has won the biggest prize in science – for the fourth time.
Ryan Wilkinson, PhD Candidate in the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University
Celine Boehm, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/43134
2015-06-11T12:39:04Z
2015-06-11T12:39:04Z
Hunt was right to resign – Nobel laureates must set an example to their field, not bring shame
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84700/original/image-20150611-11398-xgn2v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's been a rough two days for Hunt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/palomabaytelman/2195710132/in/photolist-4m2A8f-4kXTHv-ayGnaa-4m32mL-fjh7ZU-9sdfq8-dyCN3y-fj2Vhx-pe7BCB-8Cu39m-nbSK5C-8gs5Ru-nbSKa7-bEAEXT-7HdXVV-88u5QA-daE1Bv-3X62zt-dgYVXd-dXqBMy-ntZWns-XSPd3-8Ct2e9-cq35U7-81FxpK-H5eky-bwYD2Z-bwYDnk-bwYDBR-bwYEFD-cq34sS-ptyvG1-pe7ns3-fxVvU-5c4Uwp-jeNi6-b6Rg3H-259Kks-ebUZm7-ebPjGp-ebPjAM-ebUZh9-zGj6-5c9buy-ebUZd7-bwYEpa-cq37QJ-cq33qL-cq37as-cq351W"> Paloma Baytelman/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should I be pleased that Sir Tim Hunt has resigned from his post as honorary professor at University College London after his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/10/nobel-scientist-tim-hunt-female-scientists-cause-trouble-for-men-in-labs">unbelievable sexist remarks</a> about women in science? He certainly has whipped up a tornado of emotions and outrage, which has spread like wildfire through the media.</p>
<p>Well, I am delighted that he has fallen on his now-tarnished sword but a part of me is saddened that this may mean that his views and opinions creep back into the undergrowth. And it would be a shame if he no longer had to publicly address his Victorian beliefs. He should also address whether he is well placed to continue working in academia at all. Let’s not forget that he’s still an <a href="http://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/emeritus-scientists/tim-hunt/">emeritus scientist at the forthcoming Francis Crick Institute</a>. This is a post way more significant than being an honorary professor, which is a title of recognition rather than an actual job.</p>
<p>So the debate must continue. It is important, because Nobel laureates have a privileged place in society that marks them out as individuals to be held in high regard, a role model for the next generation and, above all, people with the intellect to ensure that their actions are commensurate with the greatest award bestowed upon them. Hunt has said himself that he does think Nobel laureates should act as <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/how-to-win-a-nobel-prize/2016022.article?page=0%2C4">ambassadors for science</a>. </p>
<p>How sad for Hunt that he has lost the credibility of the scientific community in just one day. It may have taken only a few minutes to comment “that the trouble with girls” in labs is that “you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry”. But the implications of this statement are much further reaching than his attempt “to inject humour into his lecture” – humour that shocked his audience and shattered his reputation. Humour that no one found funny. </p>
<h2>Nobel bigotry</h2>
<p>However Hunt is not the only Nobel laureate to have caused offence. The great scientist James Watson who worked with Francis Crick to unravel DNA <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/01/dna-james-watson-scientist-selling-nobel-prize-medal">was also ostracised</a> for his public comments stating that people may like to think that all races are of equal intelligence but that those <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7052416.stm">“who have to deal with black employees find this is not true”</a>. As a result, he was suspended from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory outside New York, USA.</p>
<p>Like Hunt the media outrage at Watson’s statement knew no bounds. Watson was subsequently shunned from the scientific community, losing his place on prestigious committees and opportunities to give public lectures. In his own words he became an “unperson”. In 2014, seven years after his remarks Watson put<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/29/disgraced-dna-pioneer-james-watson-to-sell-his-nobel-prize-medal"> his Nobel Prize medal up for auction</a> in his attempt to re-enter public life. Is this the same fate that awaits Hunt? </p>
<h2>Back to the stone age?</h2>
<p>What is particularly sad about Hunt’s comments is that they undermine a genuine appetite to address gender imbalance, particularly in the science subjects where there is a dearth of female senior academics in higher education. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan/">Equality Challenge Unit with its Athena Swan Charter</a>, which gives awards to departments that are making progress on gender equality, has been a key catalyst for changing this. In the ten years since it was first launched we are at last beginning to see the sorrowful statistics gradually change. This has happened by addressing conscious and unconscious bias in attitudes and actions and addressing cultural barriers. However there is much work still to be done </p>
<p>This agenda somehow seems to have bypassed Hunt. Has he lost the ability to keep up with the times, stagnated or simply stopped using his enquiring mind that had previously taken him to a level that many could only aspire to? </p>
<p>Hunt ultimately did the right thing by resigning, sending a message that he takes public concern seriously. Whether this is enough to restore some of his reputation remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marion Walker works for the Nottingham University. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator and currently receives funding from NIHR. She is Chair of the University of Nottingham Women in Science Engineering and Technology. </span></em></p>
Hunt’s resignation as honorary professor at University College London must not be the end of the debate over gender in science.
Marion Walker, Professor in Stroke Rehabilitation, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/31992
2014-09-23T05:20:32Z
2014-09-23T05:20:32Z
Nobel Laureate: big data and full-genome analysis not all they’re cracked up to be
<p>Walter Gilbert won the Nobel Prize in 1980 in Chemistry for his contribution to sequence DNA, or “determination of base sequences in a nucleic acid”. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mohit-kumar-jolly-110631">Mohit Kumar Jolly</a>, researcher at Rice University and contributor to The Conversation, interviewed him at the 2014 Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>You received the Nobel Prize for DNA sequencing. When do you think we will be able to get our genomes sequenced cheaply?</strong></p>
<p>Sequencing is definitely becoming cheaper and more accessible. One can sequence a couple of full genomes today for less than US$50,000. In 1985, human DNA sequencing cost was thought to be around US$3 billion. I hope that by 2020, drug stores can do genome sequencing for a few hundred dollars.</p>
<p>But, one must be careful – whole genome sequencing is not at all accurate for medical diagnosis. I got my own genome sequenced, but they missed the local rearrangements in my genome – it was not well-curated.</p>
<p>Also, it is common belief that once we can sequence the genome, we can edit it to have babies with higher IQ for example. <a href="https://theconversation.com/talent-is-unfair-and-genes-cant-be-used-to-change-that-19742">This is a myth</a>, because it is very rare that one gene corresponds to one property.</p>
<p><strong>What do you think about the prospects of personalised medicine?</strong></p>
<p>I support the cause of personalised medicine. I believe that it has two underlying themes – each one of us has different metabolism and each one of us has a different manifestation of the same disease. My cancer is not the same as your cancer, so the only way one can categorise ultimately is to have a limited number of subtypes and then develop drugs against those subtypes. </p>
<p>But as you can see, big pharma companies of course do not want people to believe in personalised medicine. Otherwise how would they sell their generic drugs? I don’t understand why they don’t realise that clinical trials get easier and much cheaper with subtyping – they do not play this market game well.</p>
<p><strong>What are your views on “big data”?</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.lindau-nobel.org/big-data-not-a-big-deal-just-another-tool/">Big data</a> promises to collect large sets of data and find associations between genes and diseases. There’s definitely something useful in the data collected, but the danger is that we have no clue how to interpret it. Also, you must remember that all statistically significant things are not biologically significant. So, it is definitely not a panacea.</p>
<p><strong>There was a recent controversy about patenting genes. What did you make of that?</strong></p>
<p>I agree with the US Supreme Court decision that one cannot patent anything that exists naturally. Since a gene is a part of the genome, I don’t think one should be allowed to patent it. But companies are allowed to patent some genetic tests that identify risks for certain diseases based on one’s genes.</p>
<p><strong>What problems does science face today?</strong></p>
<p>We are spending money on problems that can have immediate outcomes. Then we are forced to use only our current level of understanding. There is a lot that what we don’t know. Imagine that if we had asked Benjamin Franklin to justify the importance of the “spark” he had found, would we have had electricity today?</p>
<p>Another major problem is the explosion in scientific manpower that has not necessarily led to the betterment of science, especially in biology. In fact, bad material that gets published has increased. In biology, the top journals – Cell, Science and Nature – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-break-free-from-the-stifling-grip-of-luxury-journals-21669">created a mess</a>. They tell the authors “give me the headline, not the data”. And then we see <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lesson-do-rising-retraction-rates-hold-for-peer-review-28823">retractions</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/japanese-researchers-death-highlights-problems-in-dealing-with-scientific-misconduct-30190">shattered careers and dreams</a>.</p>
<p><strong>What advice would you like to give to young scientists?</strong></p>
<p>Do not blindly believe whatever you read. I often used to give my students papers that said opposite things and then tell them to explain to me how they were consistent, if at all. Also, do not continue science if it does not excite you. Science cannot be a nine-to-five job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walter Gilbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Walter Gilbert won the Nobel Prize in 1980 in Chemistry for his contribution to sequence DNA, or “determination of base sequences in a nucleic acid”. Mohit Kumar Jolly, researcher at Rice University and…
Walter Gilbert, Professor, Harvard University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.