Fundamental Science: We need to ensure access to inspiration

I never played tennis. I don’t know how the rules of the game work. I never watched a match. But in 1997, when Gustavo Kuerten won his first Roland Garros, I bought a racket. And though I never used it, it served a curious purpose: it reminded me of the magic around the hero that had influenced me. The hero effect and the ability to inspire are present in the most diverse human activities. And of course it’s in science.

An example that impresses me is played by the Pakistani physicist awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979, Abdus Salam. Personality with a multidimensional legacy, Salam enlightens us in many directions. To begin with, in the 1950s, when he started teaching at Imperial College London, together with Paul Matthews, he kicked off the creation of the Department of Theoretical Physics at that institution.

He was also one of the main forces behind the founding of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), located in the Italian city of Trieste. And if the subject is to inspire, the ICTP is a mandatory stop. Designed as a neutral scientific space (where, for example, the many sides of the iron curtains could meet), the center has since its early years maintained programs capable of prospecting and seducing talented young people from the most diverse parts of the world.

With an emphasis on scientists from scientifically less developed countries, these programs attract researchers and offer the opportunity to interact with international exponents of the various areas cultivated by the center. Here inspiration multiplies. Firstly, the figure of Salam embodies the model that science is a world heritage that should be available to everyone. Afterwards, those who arrive at the center have the chance to let themselves be contaminated by the local atmosphere, either by new contacts or by the view of the Adriatic Sea. And, perhaps, the most important effect is that, once back in their country, these scientists are the ones who exert the most influence on young scientists, disclosing universes that are often unknown and showing new talents that it is possible to succeed.

A curiosity: the ICTP’s Marie Curie library – named after the Polish scientist Marie Salomea Skłodowska-Curie – gathers a series of diplomas and other belongings of Abdus Salam, including his works. Visiting this space is inspiring, and it is difficult to leave indifferent to scientific career commitments in some parts of the world.

The hero effect associated with a personality like Salam operates in very high rotation. But it depends on the time of science and many factors that are not deliberate. On the other hand, there is scientific inspiration on a smaller scale but with very important transformative potential. These are called models or examples to follow. Here, we talk about the many brilliant people whose mere existence excites the talent of the future.

But since the subject is science, there has to be a problem. And inspiration has a very perverse component. The transcendent experience of visiting Salam memorabilia presupposes opportunity. The awe of finding Salam’s archives while warming up lunch in an Imperial College pantry presupposes access to South Kensington. The poetry of inspiration does not rhyme for everyone. And here, whoever thinks about science needs ingenuity and art.

If the talent is random and lying somewhere waiting to be discovered, it might be hungry. May not have been literate. May be among the incarcerated population. They may, above all, not believe that it is possible to develop. Inspiring is necessary, and fostering heroes is natural. But equally important, and even earlier, is ensuring access to inspiration. A universal dream voucher.

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Edgard Pimentel is a researcher at the Mathematics Center of the University of Coimbra and professor at PUC-Rio.

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