What are the key qualities of a scientist? I think one could put that question in a different way, and say if you have ten scientists in the room, ten scientists, you know, like me, towards the end of their careers, and you ask them what makes a good scientist, what are the qualities needed, would they be very different from one another? And I think not. I think I've sat on enough appointments committees in enough different countries to- to believe that there is a kind of universal currency in science quality which doesn't vary very much from person to person or place to place. So what are the things which are needed? Well, I mentioned 'Vision' as in the German connotation, vision, I think that's perhaps the most important quality and it is closely, obviously closely allied to imagination, but it must- it's also tempered with realism, a vision which is somehow out of focus or in the wrong direction, is no use to anybody, it has got to- there's got to be a perception of what has been done before. I think, I seem to remember a long, long time ago I wrote- read a book or looked at a book, written I think by an Australian author, in which it said how to do science. It started with, you know, you have to read up everything which has been done before, and I don't think that at all, I think you have to pick an intellectual thread running through what has been done before and try to identify what's missing. I think that's terribly important. Do I have anything original to say on this subject of what makes a good scientist? I think not.
Is there anything original to say about anything?
Well, there are- yes. If you are too much of a Pollyanna, which perhaps I am, you- you- you- I agree, that there's- I would like to say something deep about good qualities.