Robert B. Laughlin Quotes

My Childhood Home Backed Onto Wheat And Cotton Fields.

It Is An Interesting Fact That During My Tour I Was Never Allowed Access To Computers, Radios, Or Anything Else That I Might Damage Through Curiosity, Or Perhaps Something More Sinister.

My Mother, Who Was Professional Schoolteacher, Was Particularly Concerned About Our Formal Education And Even Went So Far As To Start A Private School Together With Some Other Parents So That Our Intellectual Needs Would Be Met.

At Berkeley I Had My First Encounter With Real Professional Scientists.

As A Consequence While We Had A Roof Over Our Heads, Food On The Table, And Clothes To Wear To School We Were Constantly Conscious Of Being Of Modest Means.

When I Moved To Stanford I Began To Pursue The Line Of Research I Have Been Following Ever Since, Namely Trying To Understand The Larger Implications Of Fractional Quantum Hall Discovery.

My Job At Stanford Is Rather Different From The Ones I Had Held Previously In That My Own Ambitions Must Take A Back Seat To The Well-being Of The Students With Whom I Work.

So Mothers Everywhere Take Heart. The Indoctrination You Administer Now May Have Unanticipated Positive Effects Years Later.

My Mother Also Had Us Take Piano Lessons, And This Had A Similar Effect. I Hated Those Lessons, But I Now Play Regularly For Pleasure And Have Even Tried My Hand At Composing.

I Also Taught Myself How To Blow Glass Using A Propane Torch From The Hardware Store And Managed To Make Some Elementary Chemistry Plumbing Such As Tees And Small Glass Bulbs.

It Was At Bell Labs That I First Made Direct Contact With Real Semiconductor Experts And Thus Began To Fully Understand What Amazing Materials They Were And What They Could Do.

Western Society Has Many Flaws, And It Is Good For An Educated Person To Have Thought Some Of These Through, Even At The Expense Of Losing A Lecture Or Two To Tear Gas.