A math club standout transforms genomics

This excellent New York Times article describes Eric Lander's journey in science to his position today as not only one of the great genome researchers but a terrific teacher and human being.

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Yes kiddies, we want you to study more math, and then help us out here with biology. You don't have to be Lander. It's OK to be a biologist who actually studied enough, rather than one who became a biologist to flee analytic thinking.
Lander says they knew no scientists as he grew up. But I am the same age as Lander, and would say that even as 9 year olds, wanting to be scientists was more common then than now. Scientists were respected, often famous. It was going to be exciting days. I fear that now, the fact that hard thinking might be required, makes it less attractive.