“When I am debating with someone. Some of my best ideas have come to me when I was challenged to defend my point of view. Scottish philosopher David Hume said that 'Truth springs from argument amongst friends.' Although I don't know what argument led to him to say this, I have found it true on many occasions. ”
Roderick MacKinnon 2003 NOBEL LAUREATE
IN CHEMISTRY, The Rockefeller University
“In the shower—I do not know why this is so but it is. Getting away from work once in a while is also real important for clearing my head; otherwise, my thinking gets bogged down and I lose sight of what the important questions are. By itself, getting away does not really qualify as 'best thinking,' but without it I wouldn't be able to find the right question, the answer to which may come to me in the shower!”
Susan S. Taylor PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY, University of California, San Diego
“When I am jogging, on a cross-country flight, or in the middle of the night when I wake up with an idea.”
Judith Kimble PROFESSOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“I regularly walk alone on a wooded path that runs along the shore of Lake Mendota right here in Madison, only a few blocks from my home. This is where I do my best free-form thinking. But for more focused thinking, my office is the place—there I can easily connect with people in the lab, search the Web for relevant facts, and scribble down thoughts as they emerge.”
Photos: Chklovskii: Paul Fetters; MacKinnon: Matthew Septimus; Taylor: Nina Haste; Kimble: Michael Forster Rothbart