Bill Linton of Promega

Information here.

Last night I mentioned a quote from Einstein about the importance of different persepectives . . here are a couple.

In 1961, Jack Kennedy asked for 1.7B for the moon program. It was a lot of money then. On July 21st, 1969, the first human being to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong. Kennedy was determined to pass the Russians; he understood the importance of message and of setting a national goal.

many technologies and information came out of that effort--including the rapid development of computers.

2 years later we said, if we can put a man on the moon, let's cure cancer. The dream was to wipe out cancer in the same way we had wiped out polio. Nixon made a request for money in his 1971 state of the union address.

nearly 40 years later, how close are we? clearly not done, but since the mid-90's the death rate has been steadily decreasing. What used to be a quick death sentence has changed.

We've gained so much, though, from taking that journey.

International missions arise from capturing the imagination of an entire population. Our message must be compelling and inspiring. The "side benefits" must be just as important as the final goal.

This will be not just knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but change in the world.