How important is it to you and your team to know what other scientists are doing? It’s very important to know what scientists are doing in other parts of the world because: you don’t want to repeat exactly what people have done, although you may want to repeat it in a slightly different way to validate it; it can help you interpret/understand what you are doing, and guide you in the future.
But there is a danger of just copying what other people are doing. It can influence you too much. You need to know what’s going on and use your own imagination and creativity.
What do you think is your most important scientific discovery? Discovering the gene that controls reproduction of yeast cells (cdc2), and working out how it actually works. Then showing that this gene also controls the reproduction of human cells and everything else in between.
What do you find most satisfying about your work? Creativity – I like having new ideas and testing whether they’re true. A good idea can be tested properly. Good ideas should make a lot of predictions. It’s very satisfying to have a good idea that explains a lot and which stands up to testing.
Training other scientists, working with and encouraging young people. Seeing them become as good as or better than me. Creating a community of scientists to carry on this work.
Which scientist do you most admire and why? Many, but mainly: Charles Darwin and his father Erasmus, both biologists. Erasmus was a great, imaginative man who thought of the theory of evolution but had no mechanism for it. A great observer.
Charles Darwin was also a great scientist. His idea that life evolves by natural selection is one of the really great hypotheses of science. He was a wonderful observer and experimentalist. Very critical, he tested everything he did.
