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SPEECH |
Department of Dental Biomaterials, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0446; kanusavice{at}dental.ufl.edu
KEY WORDS: discovery • knowledge • Nobel Prize • scientific training • intellectual curiosity
Discovery is the action of obtaining new insight or knowledge about some scientific problem. We are here today to seek new knowledge and to share our discoveries with many other members of AADR and of other IADR Divisions. Now is the time to stimulate our scientific curiosity, which is one of the seven key secrets to discovery. My remarks today are aimed at the junior members of our audience, who have minimal experience in the systematic generation of new knowledge. Those of us who have been supported by NIH or other funding sources for 20 years or more have learned the hard way how to avoid the obstacles that interfere with scientific discovery.
Of course, there are more than seven factors that enhance our ability to discover, but there are several key secrets that are dominant. Scientific and intellectual curiosity is the first of these. It is natural for humans to be curious about life forms and how they work. If you have a high level of curiosity, you have something in common with some of the most honored scientists of our time-Nobel Prize-winners in physiology and medicine.
Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA, and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology, was a late bloomer who started studying at Cambridge University at the age of 31. His inquisitiveness led him to one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th Century. However, as a boy, he once told his mother that he was afraid that by the time he grew up, all of the important discoveries would be made, and there would be nothing left for him to discover. She re-assured him that there would no doubt be many scientific mysteries yet to be explored.
Collaboration with experts is the second secret to discovery and is characteristic of several Nobel Prize-winners. Glenn Seaborg, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1951, recognized the need for collaboration. He stated, "You don’t have to be a genius to be a scientist. We have to do so many tasks which need doing in all phases of medicine, public health, agriculture, industry, and basic research. We cannot hope to carry them out without help from people of many levels of ability." In this regard, Marshall Nirenberg, who won the 1968 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology, recommended hands-on experience and collaboration with those who share your passion for research in your field and who can offer you opportunities not otherwise available.
The third secret is to seek and receive proper training. As stated by American physicist John Henry (1797-1878), "The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them." It would be short-sighted to initiate a complex research study without the proper background to design and conduct the experiment properly. In the process of receiving proper training, one learns to conduct thorough reviews of the literature, which is an equally important part of advanced training in science and technology.
Perseverance is the fourth secret to discovery. This trait is essential to maintaining one’s focus on and passion for research. Rosalyn Yalow received the 1977 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for her research leading to the development of a radioimmunoassay test for biologic substances in blood. As a young girl, she was headstrong and enjoyed the challenges of math and chemistry. She said that "it was fortunate that I chose to do acceptable things, for if I had chosen otherwise no one could have deflected me from my path." Leon Lederman, who won the Nobel Prize in 1988 for his invention of the atom smasher, was a B to B+ student in high school, but he had a passion for science. He claimed that "most scientists aren’t brilliant. Some are even very slow. Being solid is important—that means really knowing what you have to know even if it takes a long time. Many brilliant guys are superficial. Determination, doggedness, and hard work are the characteristics that are highly valued in a group. Imagination puts the icing on the cake."
The fifth secret is to target a major biomedical problem. Gertrude Elion won the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology in 1988 for her research that led to drugs for treating leukemia, malaria, gout, herpes, and AIDS. Her decision to become a scientist who could discover cures for diseases was triggered by the sight of her grandfather dying of cancer.
Often, junior scientists select projects of little or no clinical or scientific significance because the experiment requires little or no special training and can be completed in a short time. Joseph E. Murray was a 1990 recipient of the Nobel Prize for his discoveries leading to organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of disease. Following the development of anti-rejection drugs, Murray’s first successful human kidney transplant in 1954 showed that it was possible to transplant organs between relatives. His later research with dogs suggested that transplants were also possible in unrelated humans if immunosuppressive drugs were provided. In 2000, about 20,000 kidneys were transplanted in human patients, providing many people with a new chance for a healthy life. Murray’s inspiration about tissue and organ transplantation came from his World War II experience as a doctor working with burn victims. Although other researchers had concluded that organ transplantation would never be possible, he vigorously pursued its achievement.
The sixth secret is to assess all possible solutions and alternatives critically. Julius Axelrod, who won the 1970 Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for his discoveries of the mechanisms that control nerve message transmission, recommended that we ask the right questions at the right time. If one has not thoroughly explored the literature in a chosen field, the so-called "right question" may never arise, and the right time will never exist. If you have examined the problem from as many angles as possible and selected the optimum path, your chances of making discoveries will be enhanced.
The seventh secret to discovery is to provide sufficient ’protected time’ to conduct well-designed studies of great scientific or clinical relevance. In US dental schools, it is extremely difficult for clinical faculty to conduct high-quality research, because inadequate time is available for them to work in a stimulating intellectual environment of discovery. The administrations of all dental schools have the obligation to provide enough time for the scholarship necessary to develop and to sustain an individual’s greatest potential: for discovery.
You can improve your potential for discovery by maintaining a strong interaction with other scientists—for example, by participating in an AADR Annual Meeting. This potential is fueled by securing proper training, fostering scientific curiosity, targeting a major biomedical problem, critically assessing all possible solutions, receiving sufficient protected time, collaborating with experts, and persevering toward your vision of a solution to the problem.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One of the sources of information for this presentation was an article published in 2000 by the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research. The article was entitled, "Curiosity is the Key to Discovery—The Story of How Nobel Laureates Entered the World of Science". The article was adapted from a 1992 report of the same title that was published by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
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