The Cure For “Nobel Prize Syndrome” From Fathers

▲ Yamanaka Shinya

(This year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine)

"I have just been immersed myself in my research on incurable disease."
Like other Nobel prize winners, professor Yamanaka Shinya, in his acceptance speech, said that he was just enjoyed studying his area. In other words, he did not work hardly for the Nobel prize, but for fun.

Also, Nobelists share another common denominator. They tend to be embarrassed about their award and feel apologetic to their peers. I don’t believe this is because they are all modest. Instead, I think they do so because they just thank their country and the school for supporting their “amusing game” and feel they owe  to “gamers” with whom he or she played on taking "the game item" alone.

We can also learn the importance of pleasure in learning from our ancestors.

In Joseon Dynasty period, Doesan Seowon, an education facility, was established by Lee Hwang. In fact, there already were many educational institutions called Sunkyunkwan and Hyangkyo. Although these schools started to effect that they produce leaders of the nation, they actually were gateways to Joseon politics for the people who study for fame and prestige. So, Lee wanted to make Seowon for the people who just enjoy learning.

Furthermore, Confucius said “學而時習之, 不亦說乎” in the first chapter of  <Analects>,  which approximately means “learning and mastering something is joyful.” In other words, the true learning includes the delight. In the next chapter, he talked about the delight of having time with the friend who knows it. And then, the words are written in the third chapter,  “The wise man can go his way pleasantly regardless of the recognition for their work."


If so, there is a question we can ask ourselves: "How can we help our future Nobelists?"
Let’s look at the manufactory of Nobel Prizes, Kyoto University. It’s amazing that, including Shinya, Kyoto produced seven Nobel prize winners, which is equal in number of all Chinese Nobelists.

            ▲ The motto of Kyoto University is "Academic Freedom".

A reporter belongs to Kyunghyang Daily has analyzed on this surprising fact. He said, 
"The secret of Kyoto‘s achievement is free and opened school tradition which is different from the rival, Tokyo university. Kyoto, despite of its huge scale (they have fourteen laboratories and twenty-seven educational facilities), is managed freely to protect personality and creativity of their students."

In other words, Kyoto tries to make an ecosystem where free research atmosphere and creative students are in harmony. And this environment have bred creativity and imagination. It may have exerted an vital influence on Shinya to win the Nobel, who was totally unknown.

At this point, we can recall the Confucius' respond to someone who asked what the politics is. He said,
“The politics is a thing that near people are happy and distant people are coming.”
I think the reporter and Confucius talked about the same thing, the ecosystem where people are willing to come.

Ancestors also said, “Growing trees is the ten-year plan, but raising people is the hundred-year plan. Predecessors compared growing tree with raising people, knowing they are similar in developing ecosystem,

We suffer from “Nobel Prize Syndrome” around this time of the year. We have tried to find the reasons why we cannot win a Noble Prize. There could be many reasons, such as the lack of translators in the literary world, poor treatment for scientists, insufficient national support, etc. Some say we should learn the way of making Nobel Prize from foreign Nobelists. But, as we saw earlier, I think making the ecosystem is the fastest way to get over this illness.

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The Original Article:
http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201210112125485&code=990100

The Image:
http://fuentedelaeternajuventud.wordpress.com/tag/shinya-yamanaka/

The Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c9odypxXaQ