What are the common qualities of the great innovation centers of the 20th century?

1. What are the common qualities of the great innovation centers of the 20th century?

2. Bell Labs (1925-1997) • 8 Nobel Prizes • The Transistor • The Laser • Magnetic materials • CCD detectors • Super-resolution microscopy • Unix • Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

3. MRC Lab, Cambridge, England (1947- ) • 10 Nobel Prizes • Double helical structure of DNA • DNA sequencing • Electron microscopy • Monoclonal antibodies • Genomics • Structure of the ribosome

4. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1930 - ) • 33 Nobel Laureates • 41/56 Fields Medals • Einstein, von Neumann, Oppenheimer, Godel, Weil, Langlands, Dyson, etc. • 20 Wolf Prizes in physics and mathematics

5. Weizmann Institute of Science (1934 - ) • 6 Nobel Laureates • 3 Turing Awards • Electronic computers • Amniocentesis • MS drugs • Tumor suppressors • Nanomaterials

6. Common Characteristics • No hierarchy • No demand for short-term results • Stable-long-term funding • Mix of interactive scientists of diverse backgrounds • Willingness to accept a high failure rate • Focus on people with high degree of curiosity and imagination

7. The Key Question How do we set the imagination free?

8. First winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1901) • Collected data on over a hundred highly creative, famous scientists • Found that 52 of them had a great interest in the arts and literature • Hypothesized that their success correlated strongly with their power of imagination Jacobus van’t Hoff (1852-1911) Innovation <-> Imagination

9. Founder and first director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton • Commented that Marconi was inevitable; the real credit for radio, and hundreds of other inventions, belonged to James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz, who did fundamental research into electromagnetic waves driven solely by their own curiosity • Founded a private school opposing the standard model of education that focused on rigid structure. It did not give out traditional grades and used no standard curriculum. Instead, it promoted small learning groups, individual development driven by curiosity, and a more hands-on approach to education. Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) Innovation <-> Curiosity

10. Maxwell, Faraday, and Most of the Nobel Lauriates Great interest in the arts or humanities Many majored in a non-science subject in college (e.g., Harold Varmus: English Literature) Many are amateur musicians; many are very good

11. The Church of Santa Croce, Florence

12. The Tomb of Galileo

13. The Tomb of Michaelangelo

14. Zombie Ideas

15. C.P. Snow and The Two Cultures

16. Art Inspired By Science

17. Science Inspired By Art Benzene: C6H6 = ???? H3C-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH3 C6H14 Oops H2C=CH-HC=CH-HC=CH2 C6H8 Oops H2C=C=C=C=C=CH2 C6H4 Oops Etc., Etc.

18. Science Inspired By Art

19. Courses I Took in College • Advanced Calculus • Molecular Biology • Cell Biology • Biochemistry • Organic Chemistry • Physical Chemistry • Newtonian Physics

20. Courses I Took in College That Have Been of Most Value • Art History • Politics • Economics • Sociology • European History • Classics • Creative Writing • Music Appreciation

21. Art History

22. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

23. Courses I Wish I Had Taken in College • Anthropology • Philosophy • Critical Thinking • Lots more History and Literature • French and Spanish • Statistics • Asian Studies • Middle Eastern Studies • Abnormal Psychology

24. What Is The Great Enemy of Creativity and Innovation?

25. Blind Trust in Authority

26. What Happens When Science Is Not Leavened By the Arts and Humanities?

27. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study July 25, 1972

28. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study July 20, 1932

29. And…. • From 1944 to 1946, Dr. Alf Alving, professor at The University of Chicago, purposely infected psychiatric patients at the Illinois State Hospital with malaria, so that he could test experimental malaria treatments on them. • In 1950, Dr. Joseph Stokes of the University of Pennsylvania deliberately infected 200 female prisoners with viral hepatitis. • From the 1950s to 1972, mentally disabled children at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York were intentionally infected with viral hepatitis. • In 1955, the CIA conducted a biological warfare experiment where they released whooping cough bacteria from boats outside of Tampa Bay, Florida, causing a whooping cough epidemic in the city, and killing at least 12 people. • From 1950 through 1953, the U.S. Army sprayed toxic chemicals over six cities in the United States and Canada, in order to test dispersal patterns of chemical weapons.

30. “The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart”

31. Thomas Edison’s Two Dynamos

32. Zombie Ideas Austerity always leads to growth Market forces should control everything Universities should be run like businesses Universities should train people to meet the demands of industry Only subjects of practical value have value The future belongs to those best trained in science, engineering, and other technical subjects

33. Petsko’s First Law You can’t cut your way to excellence (You have to spend money to make money)

34. Petsko’s Second Law A university is not a business (And should never be treated like one)

35. Petsko’s Third Law There is no such thing as useless information (All subjects have value)

37. The Battle Is Still Being Fought Earlier this year, Kentucky governor Matt Bevin declared that state colleges and universities should educate more electrical engineers and fewer French literature majors. Other politicians have sounded a similar refrain. Governor Patrick McCroy of North Carolina suggested basing funding on post-graduate employment rather than enrollment, or, as he put it rather crudely, “It’s not based on butts in seats but on how many of those butts can get jobs.” During the primary presidential campaign, Marco Rubio called for more welders and fewer philosophers. Florida Governor Rick Scott proposed steering students (via tuition) to engineering, science, health care and technology, and away from history, philosophy, anthropology and English.

38. Maybe They Should Listen to Steve Jobs ‘It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough—that it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.’

39. The Nine Circles of Dante’s Inferno • First Circle (Limbo) • Second Circle (Lust) • Third Circle (Gluttony) • Fourth Circle (Greed) • Fifth Circle (Anger) • Sixth Circle (Heresy) • Seventh Circle (Violence) • Eighth Circle (Fraud) • Ninth Circle (Treachery)

40. The Vestibule of Hell

41. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.

42. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

43. Now, More Than Ever - In An Age When Everything Is Supposed To Be “Relevant”, Of “Practical” Value, “Career-Oriented”– The Sciences Must Stand Up For The Arts And The Humanities

44. ARTS and HUMANITIES+SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY+UNFETTERED CURIOSITY=INNOVATION