Robert B. Laughlin

It was at this moment that I wrote my first important paper in theoretical physics. I was 32 years old, 5 years beyond the alleged age of senility for theorists. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#alleged #beyond #first #i #important

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. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#different #had #held #i #job

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. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#composing #effect #even #had #hand

Over the course of time this gave us a deep respect for ideas, both our own and those of others, and an understanding that conflict through debate is a powerful means of revealing truth. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#conflict #course #debate #deep #gave

The questions worth asking, in other words, come not from other people but from nature, and are for the most part delicate things easily drowned out by the noise of everyday life. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#come #delicate #drowned #easily #everyday

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. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#even #expense #flaws #gas #good

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. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#began #discovery #ever #following #fractional

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. ↗

— Robert B. Laughlin

#began #bell #contact #could #direct