Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

How to win a Lasker? Take a close look at Bathers and Bulls

Nature Medicine volume 16, pages 1091–1096 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Some of our most influential scientists have spent their spare time moonlighting as amateur philosophers. Famous figures like the physiologist Claude Bernard, the biochemist Hans Krebs, the immunologist Peter Medawar, the physicist Richard Feynman and the molecular biologist James Watson have offered all sorts of guidance on how to become more creative and make groundbreaking discoveries. There is no shortage of advice to the young scientist. The challenge is to distinguish the good advice from the not-so-good advice.

Aristotle said the one thing that distinguishes humans from all other animals is that “man is a list-making creature.” Not one to disappoint Aristotle, I present here my list of the best advice in science, culled from the wisdom of the experts.

  • Ask the right question (Claude Bernard, 1813–1878).

  • Select the right mentor, one who can teach you how to be ruthless in criticizing your own work (Hans Krebs, 1900–1981).

  • Be passionate and obsessive about solving a problem (Peter Medawar, 1915–1987).

  • Be audacious and take risks, or as Richard Feynman (1918–1988) would say, “have your tea with lemon and cream.”

  • Avoid boring people (James Watson, 1928–).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Matisse's Bathers: from start to finish, eight years.
Figure 2: Picasso's Bull: from start to finish, 45 days.
Figure 3: Roxy Paine, Conjoined, 2007.

References

  1. D'Alessandro, S. & Elderfield, J. Matisse: Radical Invention 1913-1917 (Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Lavin, I. Picasso's bull(s): art history in reverse. Art in America 81, 76–93, 121, 123 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Kan, Y.W. 2003 William Allan Award Address: introductory speech for Sir David Weatherall. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 74, 382–384 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joseph L. Goldstein is chair of the Lasker Awards jury.,

    Joseph L Goldstein

Authors
  1. Joseph L Goldstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph L Goldstein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Goldstein, J. How to win a Lasker? Take a close look at Bathers and Bulls. Nat Med 16, 1091–1096 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1010-1091

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1010-1091

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing