Written interview published by the National Women’s History Museum, 8 August 2018 source ↗
My advice to everyone is: “Become a journalist.” ... if you have a chance to be a newspaper reporter for three or four years — before you do whatever you want to do — do it, because you will know so much.
I go back to this idea that I only discovered when I was older. I wish I had known it when I was younger, because I think I missed a lot of observations in life. That is to develop your own philosophy. I always thought philosophy was one of the most useless subjects in the world.
Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest you. […] Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.
Scientists are people who are curious and want to pursue knowledge and pursue truth, and this still remains the most timeless and priceless value of a scientific career. My advice to an early-career scientist is to remain true to your passion and curiosity and that sense of mission to discover knowledge and uncover innovation. It's also very important to be using the tools of the moment, of the century. There are a lot of new tools to uplevel our own scientific research and scientific quest.
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Paul Farmer, Richard Leakey, Mario Molina, Shinya Yamanaka, Willem Kolff
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