
How Bad Luck and Bad Networking Cost Douglas Prasher a Nobel Prize (2011) - wallflower
http://discovermagazine.com/2011/apr/30-how-bad-luck-networking-cost-prasher-nobel
======
ilamont
_Many of the challenges Prasher faced were hardly unique to him. Scientific
opportunities often appear only at specific times and places, potentially a
serious impediment for a parent who doesn’t want to relocate the family. Do
your work in the wrong place, or publish it in the wrong journal, and it may
vanish without a trace. And once someone drops out of science, it is hard to
get back in._

Bad timing/luck was compounded by the fact that he was a bit of a loner and
not driven to follow through on that area of research, even when given the
opportunity to do so.

One other issue that this story brings up: There are a _lot_ of out-of-work
postdocs and PhDs, owing to the major reduction in funding/grant opportunities
and the consolidation taking place in certain industries, such as pharma. A
very talented science blogger who covers this (as well as biochemistry
research) is Derek Lowe -- I recommend bookmarking his blog at
[http://www.pipeline.corante.com/](http://www.pipeline.corante.com/)

~~~
alexqgb
Here's a really really grim (but very well written) account of the postdoc
landscape. The short version is that the present tightening is just a a
prelude to what many in the field see as a much bigger storm. The killer line
is this one:

“I was always told the myth as a child that we need scientists and I get here
and find out that we don’t need scientists.”

[http://brooklynquarterly.org/pink-ribbons-
red/](http://brooklynquarterly.org/pink-ribbons-red/)

~~~
lutorm
This is one of the things that science educators struggle with these days --
we need people who are knowledgeable about science, but is it really right to
encourage students to go into science when we know what the landscape looks
like?

At a minimum, kids who "want to grow up to be a professor" should be told in
no uncertain terms what the prospects look like, so they at least go in with
open eyes.

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Zeebrommer
The most surprising thing is that the whole chain of events seems to have been
nobody's intent. From wikipedia:

Chalfie and Tsien invited Prasher and his wife, Virginia Eckenrode, to attend
the Nobel Prize ceremony, as their guests and at their expense. All three of
the 2008 Chemistry laureates thanked Prasher in their speeches.

In June 2010, Prasher was finally able to return to science, working for
Streamline Automation in Huntsville until December 2011, then from 2012 on, in
Roger Tsien's lab at the University of California in San Diego.

([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Prasher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Prasher))

~~~
enziobodoni
As someone who got my PhD in Roger Tsien's lab at that time and attended the
Nobel ceremony, I strongly agree with this comment, that it was no one's
intent. Many people interpret this story as though Tsien or Chalfie stole
something from Doug Prasher, which isn't true. This is more a story that
science is hard, people don't always follow through on projects, and there is
also some luck involved. There are plenty of "fourth" people who didn't get
Nobel Prizes.

~~~
jpmattia
> _There are plenty of "fourth" people who didn't get Nobel Prizes._

It would make for an interesting topic of its own. I know at least two myself.

~~~
untilHellbanned
I agree this "forgotten wo/men" would make a great blog. Important in science,
startups, athletics, essentially every competitive endeavor.

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Xcelerate
Has anyone got any tips on networking? I'm not really sure how to do it. I'll
meet researchers at conferences and introduce myself, but they will have
surely forgotten about me once the conference is over.

There's two things I'm trying to do to help with this. The first is to get as
many collaborations with different people as possible. Most of my work so far
has a lot of different names on each paper, and I feel this is useful in that
co-authors might remember me when they're starting a new research project. The
second thing I'm trying is to create an online presence. I was initially
opposed to this for a long time because it feels like "tooting my own horn"
but at the same time, it's starting to feel like a necessity. So I created a
LinkedIn, a ResearchGate page, and a little personal webpage.

~~~
ekanes
The secret to networking is to think of it less like, "how many people can I
meet and exchange contact info with?" and more like, "who's the ONE person
here I'm supposed to meet?" \-- and when you find that person, spend lots of
time. Think of these opportunities as a time to fine one friend.

~~~
thirdtruck
I'm still internalizing that "Who's the ONE" recommendation, after years of
watching my "Got to catch them all" strategy consistently show low returns.
Thank you for reminding me to switch to the better one. :)

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ak39
"Prasher’s trip would have been impossible without the sponsorship of
biologist Martin Chalfie and chemist and biologist Roger Tsien, who not only
invited the Prashers but paid for their airfare and hotel. Chalfie and Tsien,
along with Osama Shimomura, an organic chemist and marine biologist, had won
the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry."

Osamu Shimomura, not Osama Shimomura!

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Shimomura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Shimomura)

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xianshou
Fascinating - this is essentially the backstory to Breaking Bad in real life.
If Prasher goes bald, time to worry.

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tempodox
As someone who is notoriously bad at social networking, I can relate. Life
would be so much easier if we could just ignore our own vanities.

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kornakiewicz
Am I the only one who see this story as almost identical to Walter White,
which research when he was young, made his friends ultra-rich?

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throwawayaway
That "special offer for 20 copies of discover magazine" hovering monstrosity
has to be the most offensively oversized ad I have ever seen on a link
submitted to this site.

~~~
k2enemy
Agreed. That was one of the worst sites I've ever seen in terms of percent of
content visible. I couldn't even read the entire first sentence without
closing ads and scrolling.

Around 40% of my view was header and navigation, another 25% ads, another 25%
"social" junk, and maybe %10 for the headline and part of the first sentence
of the story.

Needless to say, I didn't bother trying to read the article.

~~~
throwawayaway
I agree, not a million miles from this:
[http://www.lingscars.com/](http://www.lingscars.com/)

~~~
dredmorbius
Is that for real?

~~~
csixty4
Ling Valentine was the keynote speaker at The Future of Digital Marketing
2012. Basically, her site is built to be emotionally engaging, personally
branded, and completely different from what you'd expect from a car site. She
attracts customers who don't want to deal with a traditional car dealer
because of their reputation.

Video of her talk at
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xZZ1c7diUI#t=535](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xZZ1c7diUI#t=535)

~~~
dredmorbius
Yeah, I actually did a little digging, and to make a very unoriginal comment,
the site appears to be un-ironic.

That said, my first and last desire is to close tab and flee screaming. But if
it works for her ...

"Reputation" is ... hardly what I'd see being established in a good way by
that site though.

One observation: her site is very strongly reminiscent of many native Kanji
sites (I'm slightly more familiar with Japanese and Korean than Chinese
websites), which lack a number of the typical signifiers of emphasis which are
found in Western / Roman characterset communications. The result is an
interface that's typically exceptionally loud. Ling's site is in many ways a
direct transliteration of that design motif to English.

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untilHellbanned
So if he had the vision AND cloned AND published on GFP, why exactly was he
not included on the Nobel? Not being an active scientist shouldn't matter. It
saddens me that more people wouldn't refuse such honors without Prashers'
inclusion. The money differential of inclusion would hardly be life changing,
but the nobility differential of the honorees would be.

~~~
lutorm
It's always a very difficult call who to include, given that science is not
done in isolation and at most three people can share the price. I don't think
not being an active scientist had anything to do with it.

~~~
untilHellbanned
It seems like he should be one of the three. I think the actual honorees
shouldn't have accepted the prize without his inclusion. That would have been
the _noble_ thing to do.

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knappador
Glad I know what to do the next time I'm nominated. Guess I've been getting
lucky so far.

