Nobel laureate: Buy a bike.
10-16-19, 12:38 PM
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Nobel laureate: Buy a bike.
I was listening to an interview this morning with Didier Queloz, one of this year's Nobel Prize winners in Physics. The interviewer noted he had won a lot of money and asked if there was anything the new laureate would buy. Quoting from memory: "I had a problem with my bike this morning. Maybe I'll buy a new bike."
Response 1. Shades of Einstein, perhaps? "I thought of that while riding my bicycle."
Response 2. I may not have won a Nobel this year, but maybe I'll buy a new bike too.
Response 1. Shades of Einstein, perhaps? "I thought of that while riding my bicycle."
Response 2. I may not have won a Nobel this year, but maybe I'll buy a new bike too.
10-16-19, 12:42 PM
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Wonder if he'll go with rim or disc brakes. Being as smart as he is he will certainly avoid crabon fibre because of its tendency to asplode. Guy of his caliber is likely to play it smart and go the custom ti route.
10-16-19, 05:02 PM
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10-16-19, 05:51 PM
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He could buy an old Motobecane Nobly.
10-16-19, 05:59 PM
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He's been biking to his lab for 30 years. His University asked him what he would like from them. His reply was, "A place to park my bike."
10-16-19, 06:25 PM
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10-16-19, 07:54 PM
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Of course you buy a new bike! What else do you do with any kind of prize money?
Last edited by Bassmanbob; 10-17-19 at 03:50 AM.
10-16-19, 08:20 PM
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Buying a new bike for him (and he deserves a bespoke ride for his Nobel laureate status) is only natural. Cycling to the lab for the commute, encourages thinking of the highest, and problem solving. It's good for the intellect.
10-16-19, 08:20 PM
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10-16-19, 08:43 PM
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10-16-19, 08:59 PM
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I was listening to an interview this morning with Didier Queloz, one of this year's Nobel Prize winners in Physics. The interviewer noted he had won a lot of money and asked if there was anything the new laureate would buy. Quoting from memory: "I had a problem with my bike this morning. Maybe I'll buy a new bike."
I suspect this might be one of those Cambridge inside jokes.
When Aaron Klug (also a physicist, based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1982, he was asked a similar question, and in response replied "I have been riding the same bicycle for the last twenty years, so I think I will get a new one."
I think Queloz might have been riffing on that.
When I went to work with him 11 years later, he was still riding that bike to work every day, rain or shine, even though by then he was in his late 60s and he was head of the institute and the president of the Royal Society (he did take the train to London for that). It was one of those Raleighs with a 3-speed internal hub, Brooks saddle with springs, and one of those huge wicker baskets in the front. Everyone in Cambridge had to park their bikes outside, which I wasn't very happy about. I had brought my Trek 520 with me, and he thought it was hugely extravagent and predicted it would be a target for theft. (Fortunately that didn't happen, although once someone swiped the quick release levers, I presume thinking I would leave it there overnight.)
It was only after I had worked with him for a couple of years that I first heard about this quote, so being a bike geek, I had to ask him if it was true. The bike it replaced was one he had gotten with funds inherited from Rosalind Franklin, whom he had worked with closely at the start of his career.
He passed away about a year ago.
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10-16-19, 09:23 PM
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I suspect this might be one of those Cambridge inside jokes.
When Aaron Klug (also a physicist, based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1982, he was asked a similar question, and in response replied "I have been riding the same bicycle for the last twenty years, so I think I will get a new one."
I think Queloz might have been riffing on that.
When I went to work with him 11 years later, he was still riding that bike to work every day, rain or shine, even though by then he was in his late 60s and he was head of the institute and the president of the Royal Society (he did take the train to London for that). It was one of those Raleighs with a 3-speed internal hub, Brooks saddle with springs, and one of those huge wicker baskets in the front. Everyone in Cambridge had to park their bikes outside, which I wasn't very happy about. I had brought my Trek 520 with me, and he thought it was hugely extravagent and predicted it would be a target for theft. (Fortunately that didn't happen, although once someone swiped the quick release levers, I presume thinking I would leave it there overnight.)
It was only after I had worked with him for a couple of years that I first heard about this quote, so being a bike geek, I had to ask him if it was true. The bike it replaced was one he had gotten with funds inherited from Rosalind Franklin, whom he had worked with closely at the start of his career.
He passed away about a year ago.
When Aaron Klug (also a physicist, based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1982, he was asked a similar question, and in response replied "I have been riding the same bicycle for the last twenty years, so I think I will get a new one."
I think Queloz might have been riffing on that.
When I went to work with him 11 years later, he was still riding that bike to work every day, rain or shine, even though by then he was in his late 60s and he was head of the institute and the president of the Royal Society (he did take the train to London for that). It was one of those Raleighs with a 3-speed internal hub, Brooks saddle with springs, and one of those huge wicker baskets in the front. Everyone in Cambridge had to park their bikes outside, which I wasn't very happy about. I had brought my Trek 520 with me, and he thought it was hugely extravagent and predicted it would be a target for theft. (Fortunately that didn't happen, although once someone swiped the quick release levers, I presume thinking I would leave it there overnight.)
It was only after I had worked with him for a couple of years that I first heard about this quote, so being a bike geek, I had to ask him if it was true. The bike it replaced was one he had gotten with funds inherited from Rosalind Franklin, whom he had worked with closely at the start of his career.
He passed away about a year ago.
10-16-19, 09:42 PM
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10-16-19, 10:04 PM
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10-17-19, 03:48 AM
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10-17-19, 06:18 AM
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10-17-19, 06:57 AM
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10-17-19, 11:21 AM
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So, I think people are saying here, if I ride my bike enough, I might win a Nobel Prize...
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10-17-19, 12:03 PM
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I suspect this might be one of those Cambridge inside jokes.
When Aaron Klug (also a physicist, based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1982, he was asked a similar question, and in response replied "I have been riding the same bicycle for the last twenty years, so I think I will get a new one."
I think Queloz might have been riffing on that.
When I went to work with him 11 years later, he was still riding that bike to work every day, rain or shine, even though by then he was in his late 60s and he was head of the institute and the president of the Royal Society (he did take the train to London for that). It was one of those Raleighs with a 3-speed internal hub, Brooks saddle with springs, and one of those huge wicker baskets in the front. Everyone in Cambridge had to park their bikes outside, which I wasn't very happy about. I had brought my Trek 520 with me, and he thought it was hugely extravagent and predicted it would be a target for theft. (Fortunately that didn't happen, although once someone swiped the quick release levers, I presume thinking I would leave it there overnight.)
It was only after I had worked with him for a couple of years that I first heard about this quote, so being a bike geek, I had to ask him if it was true. The bike it replaced was one he had gotten with funds inherited from Rosalind Franklin, whom he had worked with closely at the start of his career.
He passed away about a year ago.
When Aaron Klug (also a physicist, based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1982, he was asked a similar question, and in response replied "I have been riding the same bicycle for the last twenty years, so I think I will get a new one."
I think Queloz might have been riffing on that.
When I went to work with him 11 years later, he was still riding that bike to work every day, rain or shine, even though by then he was in his late 60s and he was head of the institute and the president of the Royal Society (he did take the train to London for that). It was one of those Raleighs with a 3-speed internal hub, Brooks saddle with springs, and one of those huge wicker baskets in the front. Everyone in Cambridge had to park their bikes outside, which I wasn't very happy about. I had brought my Trek 520 with me, and he thought it was hugely extravagent and predicted it would be a target for theft. (Fortunately that didn't happen, although once someone swiped the quick release levers, I presume thinking I would leave it there overnight.)
It was only after I had worked with him for a couple of years that I first heard about this quote, so being a bike geek, I had to ask him if it was true. The bike it replaced was one he had gotten with funds inherited from Rosalind Franklin, whom he had worked with closely at the start of his career.
He passed away about a year ago.
10-17-19, 12:04 PM
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10-17-19, 12:11 PM
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10-17-19, 11:01 PM
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10-18-19, 02:30 AM
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This is Ben Feringa, he got the Nobel prize for chemistry 3 years ago. Not that he didn't have a place to park his bike before, but giving him his own car parking space was pointless.
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