Never lose your nerve! / Alan J. Heeger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heeger, Alan J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Heeger, Alan J.

Chemists--United States--Biography.

Chemists.

Nobel Prize winners.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Jersey : World Scientific, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Never Lose Your Nerve! chronicles the ups and downs of a Nobel Laureate's life. Professor Alan J Heeger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 together with Professor Alan G MacDiarmid and Professor Hideki Shirakawa. Filled with humor, this book tells Professor Heeger's story--his love for his family, especially how his wife's love has always been his guiding light, his progress from a young student to an eminent scientist, his passion for the theatre and its impact on his science, his adventures as a successful entrepreneur, and his personal losses. Many think of scientists as risk-adverse individuals but Professor Heeger shows the absolute necessity of risk in research and that scientists are, in fact, risk-addicted, as taking the first, risky step into unfamiliar territory is a step in the right direction towards creativity and great discoveries. Never lose your nerve and you will be rewarded. Life is an exciting adventure and this book clearly demonstrates it, and is for those who are looking to impact others. "Perhaps the greatest pleasure of being a scientist is to have an abstract idea, then to do an experiment (more often a series of experiments is required) that demonstrates the idea was correct; that is, Nature actually behaves as conceived in the mind of the scientist. This process is the essence of creativity in science. I have been fortunate to have experienced this intense pleasure many times in my life."Alan J Heeger."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents; Prologue; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Perfect Days - and Some Not so Perfect; Chapter 2 The First Indication of Creativity; Chapter 3 Miracles Actually Happen!; Chapter 4 Coming to Acceptance of My Mortality; Chapter 5 The Wart and the Penny: The Importance of Uncorrelated Events; Chapter 6 "Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go"; Chapter 7 Passion for a Career as a Physicist; Chapter 8 From Novice to Professor; Chapter 9 The Pathway to Great Science; Becoming a Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania; Chapter 10 "Fire and Rain"; Chapter 11 Risk, Creativity and Discovery - Again

Chapter 12 The Nobel Prize in ChemistryChapter 13 The Creativity Continues: High Mobility Polymer Thin Film Transistors; Chapter 14 Decision to Go West - Was it the KGB?; Chapter 15 Life and Science in Santa Barbara; Chapter 16 The California Entrepreneur: UNIAX Corporation; Chapter 17 The Impact of Theater in our Lives; Chapter 18 Low-Cost "Plastic" Solar Cells - A Dream Becoming Reality; Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells; Konarka Technologies, Inc.; Chapter 19 The Serial Entrepreneur; September 11, 2001 - The Birth of CBRITE Inc.; Cynvenio and CytomX

Chapter 20 The Delicacy of the Creative MindChapter 21 The Joy of Life; Final Comments: Mentoring Young Scientists; Mentoring Post-doctoral Researchers and Graduate Students; Mentoring Graduate Students; Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

981-4719-55-2