Eric Betzig
Eric Betzig
Robert Eric Betzigis an American physicist based at the Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. He has worked to develop the field of fluorescence microscopy and photoactivated localization microscopy. He was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy" along with Stefan Hell and fellow Cornell alumnus William E. Moerner...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth13 January 1960
CountryUnited States of America
Sometimes I make an analogy that each scientific paper is like putting out another record. And some people have careers that are nothing but a one-hit wonder. And then there are people who are only appreciated by aficionados but largely forgotten by the wider community.
The question was, 'Is there a way of minimizing the amount of damage you're doing so that you can then study cells in a physiological manner while also studying them at high spatial and temporal resolution for a long time?'
In my opinion, the only real asset one has is one's reputation, right? I mean, any company and institution can go belly up at any time. But if you have a good reputation, you know, you can usually find somebody who can - who thinks they can use what you have to offer.
I was born in 1960 and can still tell you the name of every astronaut from Mercury to Apollo. If I had a chance, I'd love to go into space on one of the privately developed space crafts.
Frankly, I guess, I don't really understand why people, why so many people, are so risk averse. You know, there's always ways to wiggle your way out of any situation if you're motivated enough.
You need a continuous picture of how things are evolving, and not a slow series of snapshots where you don't know how frame A is related to frame B.
You get so tied up with the minutiae of the day-to-day, there's never a chance to sit back and let your subconscious run wild.
What was shocking to us was that by spreading the energy out across seven beams instead of one, the phototoxicity went way down.
We can track and see the production of single molecules, trace them and see how they assemble into structures.
There are many cells you could look at forever in 3D.
Science goes through fads, and there are big ups and crashes.
One thing I liked about being in microscopy is it gets you out of your box constantly because there's such a diverse range of applications.
It takes a huge amount of effort to move from a successful high-tech prototype to broader adoption of an imaging technology.
It always irritated me that people think they have to be locked into a career path.