On a recent evening, Prof. Christopher Lloyd, a Nobel Laureate in chemical sciences, was looking outside from his third floor lab-window. Nearby Harvard Square was covered with at least 10-12 cm of freshly fallen snow, even such late in March. From all indications, this had been an unusual harsh and long winter. States on east-coast were getting snowed repeatedly, while states in mid-America dealing with tornadoes and thunderstorms and states in west-coast experiencing destructive wildfires. There’s no doubt a profound climate-change had happened affecting our universe. And that’s when, the innocent face of the European teenager (he couldn’t remember her name) appeared in his thought. The fearless teenager, not depending on adults, was organizing a worldwide protest movement involving students everywhere against drastic climate change. Just an hour ago, Prof. Lloyd was buying a cup of coffee from the underground café, when the newscaster on the flat-screen wall-TV announced that a few European peace organizations nominating the teenager for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
While appreciating nature’s beauty in fresh snowfall, Prof. Lloyd fell into a deep nostalgia. Growing up, he was a brilliant student both in his high school and college days. Both his parents were practicing doctors, but he had chosen a different career-track of a discovery scientist. He wanted to leave behind his legacy by discovering novel molecules that would be useful in fight against human hunger and illness. After earning his PhD, he began his career in academia, devoting time in experimental research as well as training new PhD-s. After initial struggles, success followed. Along came the desire for recognition, fame, and the ultimate dream of a Nobel Prize.
Prof. Lloyd was well aware of the fact that the granting of a PhD-degree resided mainly on the final nod from a mentor. He began to accept mostly hard-working international students to do breakthrough research towards their PhD-thesis. Three past foreign students would commit suicide, being unable to cope with pressure, followed by shame of being failures. But he was never investigated due to his world stature. Two of his marriages dissolved in divorce without any children from either one. He remained obsessed with his dream, like many of his contemporaries. Finally, the midnight-call came from Sweden. Now turning around, he looked at the award-medal resting inside one of his bookcases.
However, like the unforeseen destructive behavior of Nobel’s dynamite, Prof. Lloyd’s many discoveries also took some unintended turns. Due to expansion of global terrorism, many of his same experimental inventions found utility in creating new generations of explosives. On the other hand, the industrial-scale production of medicinal and agricultural products proved to be responsible for releasing harmful gases into atmosphere. Multinational companies found cheap labor and lax regulations in world’s poorest countries to manufacture the products. Many of those countries began choking with severe atmospheric pollution.
Prof. Lloyd opened his computer, composed a strong recommendation letter for the brave teenager, and floated the same in ether for the Nobel Peace Prize committee.
While appreciating nature’s beauty in fresh snowfall, Prof. Lloyd fell into a deep nostalgia. Growing up, he was a brilliant student both in his high school and college days. Both his parents were practicing doctors, but he had chosen a different career-track of a discovery scientist. He wanted to leave behind his legacy by discovering novel molecules that would be useful in fight against human hunger and illness. After earning his PhD, he began his career in academia, devoting time in experimental research as well as training new PhD-s. After initial struggles, success followed. Along came the desire for recognition, fame, and the ultimate dream of a Nobel Prize.
Prof. Lloyd was well aware of the fact that the granting of a PhD-degree resided mainly on the final nod from a mentor. He began to accept mostly hard-working international students to do breakthrough research towards their PhD-thesis. Three past foreign students would commit suicide, being unable to cope with pressure, followed by shame of being failures. But he was never investigated due to his world stature. Two of his marriages dissolved in divorce without any children from either one. He remained obsessed with his dream, like many of his contemporaries. Finally, the midnight-call came from Sweden. Now turning around, he looked at the award-medal resting inside one of his bookcases.
However, like the unforeseen destructive behavior of Nobel’s dynamite, Prof. Lloyd’s many discoveries also took some unintended turns. Due to expansion of global terrorism, many of his same experimental inventions found utility in creating new generations of explosives. On the other hand, the industrial-scale production of medicinal and agricultural products proved to be responsible for releasing harmful gases into atmosphere. Multinational companies found cheap labor and lax regulations in world’s poorest countries to manufacture the products. Many of those countries began choking with severe atmospheric pollution.
Prof. Lloyd opened his computer, composed a strong recommendation letter for the brave teenager, and floated the same in ether for the Nobel Peace Prize committee.
