A Runaway Success Arno Allan Penzias

OUTLOOK science masterclass

profile l Venture partner at New Enterprise Arno Allan Penzias Associates l Born in Munich, Germany, on 26 April 1933 l When aged 5,years old Arno and his A runaway success family were very nearly deported to Poland by the Nazis Arno Penzias, Robert W. Wilson and Pyotr L. Kapitsa won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1978. l The family subsequently travelled to Penzias and Wilson’s share was for discovering the existence of cosmic background radiation. England and then to the United States in 1939 Are scientists are under-represented in politics? goat is wary of heights from the instant that it l Spent two years in the U.S. Army Signal And do established scientists, especially Nobel opens its eyes for the first time. Corps in the mid 1950s laureates, have a duty to become active in l1956 joined Columbia University to work politics and science policy? Bell Labs and other corporate research sites, for a PhD Scientists rarely possess the skill sets needed which led to many Nobel prizes, are on the l Joined Bell Laboratories on a temporary for success in politics. All the more reason, decline or have shut down. Is corporate, basic basis in 1961 — but would remain there for therefore, for prominent scientists to become research critically needed or is research in 37 years active in using that visibility for public good. academia sufficient? l 1981 US anti-trust laws signal the Speaking personally: I feel that obligation, and Times have changed. In the past, giant cor- breaking up of Bell Labs. have tried to act accordingly. I flew from Stock- porations made most, if not all, of what they holm to Russia immediately after receiving sold. The size and scope of a corporate research my Nobel prize. I had arranged with a human laboratory depends upon where its owner things were for them, they kept going. rights organization to deliver my Nobel lec- adds value, i.e., what kinds of components or As I’ve grown older, I’ve also learned to ture to a gathering of ‘refusnik’ scientists in a systems its owner makes — rather than buys. step back when I’m stuck, look around, Moscow apartment. Over time, each of them In today’s world, properly focussed in-house and repurpose my skills to move in a new was granted the emigration permit they had research can still provide both future and cur- direction. When I became responsible for applied for. rent advantage, generally on a smaller scale all of Bell Labs’ research, for example, I than in the past. Drug companies are a spe- needed to learn about computing; I wrote a How can the public be convinced of the cial case. Most have maintained their research book about computers and people from an importance of fundamental research with no laboratories, but face a unique problem: their outsider’s perspective. applications in sight? labs are staffed by brilliant biochemists, ill We need to make the public more aware of equipped to provide advantage in a genomics- From your experience, what valuable advice how successful fundamental research actually dominated era. would you give all young researchers who are works. Unfortunately, more than a few scien- starting their research life so as to become a tists fit the popular image of isolated special- You must have experienced a lull at some point good scientist? ists, working within the narrow confines of in your research career. What kept you going? Everyone must deal with self-doubt. Just their area of interest. Rather than promoting My primary driver has always been the example remember that you are ‘seeing’ the outside of fundamental research as an abstract concept, set by both my parents. No matter how difficult everyone else’s head and comparing it to the I think we do better when we focus inside of your own. Ask questions. ngs upon support for research universi- Do not assume that everyone else is i ties — and the problem-rich environ- keeping quiet because the answer is meet ments they create and nourish — as obvious to each one of them—just eate our civilization’s most fruitful keys not you! r lau to progress. Examples of the social I once read that Isidor Isaac Rabi’s

benefits abound, most visibly by the [who discovered nuclear magnetic ndau i l

‘Silicon Valleys’ that have sprung up resonance] mother asked him every ./ c ,

around a number of them. day. “Have you asked any good ques- ng i tions today?” Sometime after I had lemm What is the one discovery that would won a Nobel prize myself, I told f herald a scientific revolution in the Professor Rabi that I thought that 21st century? the other kids in his classes must A scientific model of how mamma- have hated him: this well-scrubbed lian genomes pack so much into so lit- kid who embarrassed them with his tle space. Just think of the amount of questions. “Not at all,” he replied. information stored in a mere three bil- “There are questions which destroy, lion base pairs, let alone all else these and questions which illuminate. I mere molecules must accomplish. was taught to always ask the second Measured from a computer perspec- k i n d .” tive, that’s four bits of storage per pair — or about one tenth as much as a Aside from as a Nobel Laureate, high-end iPod Touch. How can so lit- how would you want the world to tle ‘memory’ store the exquisite details remember you? of our entire bestiary? Consider, As a frightened young refugee for example, that experiments have who went on to live the American shown that a newly-born mountain Dream.

S4 | NATURE | VOL 467 | 14 OCTOBER 2010