Caltech's President Reflects on The Meaning of the Nobel Prize.

As both the president of Caltech and a Nobel Prize winner, I can reflect on the meaning of The Prize from two points of view.

Having become a laureate at age 37, I have lived with the prize for most of my scientific career. It certainly makes one a mini-celebrity. "Mini" in the sense that most of the world (blessedly) doesn't recognize a laureate, limiting one's celebrity to the scientific and academic world. But, although the public may not physically recognize a laureate, the Nobel Prize is widely recognized in the larger world, and the celebrity gives some glory to one's institution. That makes recruiting faculty and students a bit easier and gives donors some comfort that their chosen institution deserves support.

In California, having a Nobel Prize is not so rare; most of the major research institutions have laureates. I think that the California dominance of the prize is a testament to the foresight of certain individuals, like George Ellery Hale for Caltech, who saw California as a place where great institutions could be fostered and then worked diligently to make their visions manifest. Because so many of the great campuses are public, the residents of California deserve credit for sponsoring these superb institutions even if the veneration of learning has waned a bit in recent years.

The residents of California seem to understand that great science leads to the innovative products that drive a modern economy. We must keep our institutions strong if we are to maintain the remarkable leadership we enjoy in the world economy. Only innovation generates the high-value products that create the wealth and new jobs that can fuel our future prosperity.

But great science plays the equally important role of helping us understand ourselves and the world around us. Through biology we learn about our bodies and how to keep them healthy; through astronomy, physics, and geology we learn about the forces that created our universe and shape the land, sea, and air around us. Science makes our lives richer and longer and the Nobel Prizes are a recognition of the people who embody the spirit of learning which generates that science.