“To have success in science, you need some luck.
But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck.”

Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb (1993)
Context: To have success in science, you need some luck.
But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck. And it's not enough to be smart — lots of people are very bright and get nowhere in life. In my view, you have to combine intelligence with a willingness not to follow conventions when they block your path forward.

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James D. Watson 47
American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. 1928

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