The power of lifelong curiosity

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.

—Novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez Southern California has the greatest number of active and engaged octogenarians and nonagenarians of any place that I know. Perhaps it is the warm weather and a healthy lifestyle. At Caltech, it is the bracing intellectual atmosphere.

Profiles in lifelong scientific engagement

Rudy Marcus, now 102, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for electron transfer theory, remains active in research and scientific discourse. During the pandemic Rudy was reveling in the possibilities of attending the American Chemical Society annual meeting online. He set up two computers in two separate rooms to participate in multiple sessions simultaneously. Even better than being there in person!

Harry Gray, a mainstay of the Caltech chemistry effort for 60 years, has mentored hundreds of students and postdocs, with hundreds assuming faculty positions across the globe and six becoming university presidents. Being in Harry’s presence means being swept up by the beauty of science. Harry founded “Gray’s Solar Army,” a worldwide network of students engaged in testing catalysts for solar cells.

Alice Huang, a noted virologist, has led both the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has championed diversity in science since the early 1970s, recognizing the untapped potential of large segments of the workforce. The Alice Huang Leadership Award at Caltech honors those who foster inclusive academic environments.

Her husband, David Baltimore, Nobel laureate at age 37, former president of Rockefeller and Caltech, continued his research into his eighties. Baltimore has helped shape ethical boundaries for human genome editing and emphasizes the societal impact of basic science.

“By focusing on basic science,” he explained, “I have been able to have an impact on cancer, on AIDS, on immunology. And that is extremely rewarding. It proves the adage that basic science is the seed corn of societal impact.”

The university’s role in advancing knowledge

Every individual has their own story, but together they exemplify the values that define a successful university. We are privileged to immerse ourselves in the mysteries of Nature through mathematics and science, to explore the possibilities of imagined worlds and versions of our own through literature and art, to contemplate our past and our future through the social sciences, to engineer devices that transcend human capabilities. For a thousand years, universities have created communities where the disciplines can rub up against each other and the resulting sparks ignite the imagination.

The freedom to roam expansively over untrammeled intellectual terrain is indeed a privilege. But it is not a giveaway, as some have maintained. The human need to question has its own intrinsic worth in terms of our identity and aspirations.

Preparing the next generation

Future generations will look back at this age in terms of the fundamental discoveries that emerged, just as we remember the insights of Newton, parsing the laws of motion; Galileo, providing us with our first lens on planets other than our own; Copernicus, who showed that Earth was special because of human habitation, but ordinary in its orbit around the sun; Darwin who linked our ancestry to the other denizens of the Earth; Hubble, who placed us in the cauldron of a violent and expanding universe; and Einstein, who fashioned physical law into a coherent whole. Our perceptions of our internal world have been shaped by the seminal philosophers and theologians and writers and artists, in colloquies over the centuries that vitiate the constraints of time.

Moreover, scientific discoveries often lead to interventions and technologies that improve people’s lives, from DNA sequencing to non-invasive imaging to GPS to modern electronics. The high-risk, high-payoff model is characteristic of the non-profit world of universities with our long-time horizons. The handoff to industry is an important component of the innovation ecosystem, but the parts are not interchangeable. The return on investment can be seen every day in economic well-being, healthier lives, and a more secure nation.

Finally, universities provide the talent to secure the future. This involves melding forefront research with education so that our students and postdoctoral scholars can adapt to a rapidly changing world. We teach critical thinking because society needs a workforce that can confront the unknown and push forward by asking piercing questions. This is essential for a technological society, and it is the foundation of a robust and resilient democracy.

Progress requires us to be open to new ideas, supported by data and evidence-based reasoning, and the humility to question our assumptions. This can be difficult, even uncomfortable, but the creation of new knowledge requires it. We strive to fashion a robust, civic space, welcoming to individuals from all backgrounds, committed to rigorous inquiry, devoted to understanding the natural world and improving the human world.

These entrancements keep people active and dreaming. It is a privilege and a responsibility. It is the fulfillment of individual desire and the advancement of the common good. It is an ethos that outlasts industries and nation-states and yet remains remarkably fragile.