Explorers

The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci is a pioneer in the study of diseases of the immune system. The world's leading AIDS researcher, he is also the administrator of a multi-billion dollar government agency. He oversees clinical trials of experimental drugs, conducts research in his own laboratory, publishes reams of scientific papers, and still makes weekly rounds of clinic patients. Anthony Fauci was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He joined NIAID in 1968 and became a pioneer in the field of human immunoregulation, developing therapies for formerly fatal diseases. He became Director of NIAID in 1984, as the AIDS epidemic was ravaging America's cities. Activists accused the government of deliberate neglect and hanged Dr. Fauci in effigy. Rather than shrinking from his critics, he met with them face-to-face. Within a year of his appointment, he had become the world's foremost advocate for AIDS research, a hero to his former critics. He streamlined the process for testing new drugs, and successfully lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to make AIDS drugs more widely available. When Fauci took charge of NIAID, its annual budget was only $320 million. By 2010 it was approximately $4.8 billion. As AIDS continues to rage around the world, Dr. Fauci play an international role in the struggle to control the spread of the disease, promote its treatment, and find a safe and effective vaccine. This podcast was recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.

The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci is a pioneer in the study of diseases of the immune system. The world's leading AIDS researcher, he is also the administrator of a multi-billion dollar government agency. He oversees clinical trials of experimental drugs, conducts research in his own laboratory, publishes reams of scientific papers, and still makes weekly rounds of clinic patients. Anthony Fauci was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He joined NIAID in 1968 and became a pioneer in the field of human immunoregulation, developing therapies for formerly fatal diseases. He became Director of NIAID in 1984, as the AIDS epidemic was ravaging America's cities. Activists accused the government of deliberate neglect and hanged Dr. Fauci in effigy. Rather than shrinking from his critics, he met with them face-to-face. Within a year of his appointment, he had become the world's foremost advocate for AIDS research, a hero to his former critics. He streamlined the process for testing new drugs, and successfully lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to make AIDS drugs more widely available. When Fauci took charge of NIAID, its annual budget was only $320 million. By 2010 it was approximately $4.8 billion. As AIDS continues to rage around the world, Dr. Fauci play an international role in the struggle to control the spread of the disease, promote its treatment, and find a safe and effective vaccine. This podcast was recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.

In 1998, an article by Dr. Craig Mello, published in the journal Nature, ignited a revolution in biomedical research. The discovery swept through laboratories around the world, changing the way biomedical researchers work in fields from medicine to agriculture. Science had already identified the role of the messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule in conveying genetic information from the DNA molecule to the cells of living things, but when scientists attempted to manipulate this communication for experimental purposes, they experienced baffling and contradictory results. Dr. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in collaboration with scientists from the Carnegie Institution, devised an ingenious experiment, with the genes of the nematode worm. He bound one RNA molecule to another, constructed in its mirror image. This double-stranded molecule, injected into the cells of the worm, effectively silenced the gene corresponding to the original RNA molecule. Mello and his colleagues soon found that this process, which they dubbed "RNA interference" (RNAi), occurs naturally in all living things, from plants and fungi to animals and human beings. It plays a role in the differentiation of cells, in the suppression of viruses, and probably in the mechanisms of inheritance, variation and the evolution of species. The discovery of RNAi unveils a new vista of possibilities for the study and treatment of viral infections, inherited ailments and immune disorders, including diabetes, cancer, ALS and HIV-AIDS. Craig Mello addressed the student delegates at the 2007 Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C., six months after receiving the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

In 1998, an article by Dr. Craig Mello, published in the journal Nature, ignited a revolution in biomedical research. The discovery swept through laboratories around the world, changing the way biomedical researchers work in fields from medicine to agriculture. Science had already identified the role of the messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule in conveying genetic information from the DNA molecule to the cells of living things, but when scientists attempted to manipulate this communication for experimental purposes, they experienced baffling and contradictory results. Dr. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in collaboration with scientists from the Carnegie Institution, devised an ingenious experiment, with the genes of the nematode worm. He bound one RNA molecule to another, constructed in its mirror image. This double-stranded molecule, injected into the cells of the worm, effectively silenced the gene corresponding to the original RNA molecule. Mello and his colleagues soon found that this process, which they dubbed "RNA interference" (RNAi), occurs naturally in all living things, from plants and fungi to animals and human beings. It plays a role in the differentiation of cells, in the suppression of viruses, and probably in the mechanisms of inheritance, variation and the evolution of species. The discovery of RNAi unveils a new vista of possibilities for the study and treatment of viral infections, inherited ailments and immune disorders, including diabetes, cancer, ALS and HIV-AIDS. Craig Mello addressed the student delegates at the 2007 Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C., six months after receiving the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Dr. Robert H. Grubbs was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for an achievement that will lead to the development of new medicines for illness, and new materials for industry and daily living, while dramatically reducing the hazard of chemical waste in the environment. The Swedish Academy honored Dr. Grubbs for his discovery of the "Grubbs catalyst," a molecule of carbon and ruthenium, which facilitates the formation of new carbon-based compounds. The chemical process of metathesis, in which the atoms of one molecule trade places with the atoms of another, has been compared to a dance in which two partners holding each other by both hands link up with another couple, briefly forming a circle before changing partners and dancing off again. The Grubbs catalyst, already available to laboratories, is a particularly graceful performer in this dance, and enables chemists to replace individual atoms with unprecedented accuracy. Robert Grubbs was born and raised in Marshall County, Kentucky, near the town of Possum Trot. He first fell in love with chemistry at the University of Florida and earned his doctorate at Columbia University. Today, he is the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He is thrilled that his discovery, the product of 30 years of research, promises a "greener," healthier future for all of us. In this podcast, recorded at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, California, Dr. Grubbs recalls the impact that Russia's launch of the Sputnik satellite had on his generation of students. He also discusses the issue of global warming and the challenge of powering the planet without poisoning it. He urges the Academy's student students to educate their policy makers on these pressing issues.

As a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia, Hans Keirstead invented a method for regenerating damaged spinal cords using embryonic human stem cells. His work holds promise, not only for the treatment of spinal cord injury, but for multiple sclerosis and stroke. When the federal government denied funding to create new lines of embryonic stem cells for research, Hans Keirstead helped secure passage of California's Proposition 71, committing the State of California to the funding of stem cell research. If paralyzed people ever walk again, it may well be due to the efforts of this brilliant young scientist. Today, he is Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, where he is also Co-Director of the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. In this video podcast, recorded at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, California, he discusses his work researching spinal cord injuries. He tells the Academy's student delegates how he founded a biotechnology company to develop technology that applies discarded and donated human embryonic stem cell tissues to improve damaged spinal cords and the central nervous system.

Much of the technology we take for granted today, from mobile phone reception to MRI scanning, would be unthinkable without discoveries made by Alexei Abrikosov in Russia half a century ago. In the early 1950s, Abrikosov was one of only a handful of scientists around the world studying the phenomenon of superconductivity, the ability of electricity to pass through certain materials without resistance, usually at incredibly low temperatures. His discoveries took many years to gain widespread acceptance, but today his theory of the magnetic properties of Type II Superconductors, known as the "Abrikosov vortex lattice," is universally accepted. In the Soviet Union, Dr. Abrikosov was honored with the Lenin Prize, Russia's most important scientific honor. In 1991, he moved to the United States to join the Argonne National Laboratory; he became a U.S. citizen in 1999. In 2003, Dr. Abrikosov was awarded the Nobel Prize, along with two colleagues, "for pioneering work on the theory of superconductivity and superfluidity." His recent research has focused on magneto resistance, the variable resistance to electrical flow in some materials under the influence of a magnetic field. In the future, researchers hope to harness superconductivity for such uses as power lines that can conduct current without waste resistance, and high-speed trains that float above the tracks. Dr. Abrikosov addressed the Academy of Achievement at its 2004 Summit in Chicago, Illinois. In this podcast, recorded on that occasion, he tells the Academy student delegates the story of his life in Russia, and discusses the qualities he believes make a good scientist, including patience, open-mindedness and critical thinking.

Burt Rutan has been called the most influential aircraft designer in America. A former project engineer at the Air Force Flight Test Center, he founded the Rutan Aircraft Factory to develop light aircraft. His unorthodox designs were adopted by a small army of homebuilders who revered him as a populist of aeronautics, bringing aviation to the masses. He made history with the Voyager, the first plane to circle the globe without refueling. His latest cause is the most dramatic of all, a new space program, completely independent of government funding. In view of the long decline of public sector support for space travel, Rutan argues that private individuals must step forward to fulfill mankind's historic mission of exploration. Within days of his address to the Academy, Rutan made good on his plan and launched SpaceShip One, the first privately funded space flight. The following year, the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, built by Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, completed the first solo non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. Rutan continues to be a pioneer in the field of aerospace. He is currently developing space tourism flights with Richard Branson.

As a little girl in England, Meave Epps took a keen interest in the natural sciences, but the school she attended didn't teach science, because it wasn't thought necessary for girls. Even after obtaining a degree in marine zoology, she found few doors open to women in the sciences. Her life changed dramatically when she answered an ad in the back pages of The Times of London to work in Kenya with the celebrated Leakey family of paleoanthropologists. She married Richard Leakey in 1970, and when he accepted an appointment to run the Kenya Wildlife Service, she took over leadership of their institute's annual expedition.

In 1994, her team found a set of hominid fossils that suggested the existence of an unknown species, walking upright 4.1 million years ago, half a million years earlier than previously thought. In 2001, the discovery of a complete hominid skull revealed the existence of another unknown species, of an entirely different genus from the only previously known hominid of that time, the species of the celebrated "Lucy" skeleton. This suggests that two separate hominid lineages already existed 3.5 million years ago.

Meave Leakey's discoveries have altered our understanding of how our earliest ancestors first came to walk upright; in the future she hopes to uncover the origins of human manual dexterity. Now that Richard and Meave's daughter, Louise, has entered the field, it appears that the family heritage of discovery will continue into another generation.

Sally Ride was a 27-year-old Ph.D. candidate, looking for postdoctoral work in astrophysics, when an item in the Stanford University newspaper caught her eye. NASA was looking for astronauts. She was one of only six women to be accepted, out of 8,000 applicants. She joined NASA in 1977, and underwent years of rigorous physical and scientific training. In 1983 she became the first American woman in space, flying a six-day mission on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Her second mission lasted eight days, contributing to her career total of 343 hours in space. She was scheduled for a third mission at the time of the Challenger explosion in 1986. She served on the Presidential Commission investigating the accident, and participated in long-term planning at the space agency's headquarters in Washington until her retirement from NASA. From 1989, she was a Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego, where her research interests centered on the theory of non-linear beam-wave interactions. She also served as a Science Fellow of the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University and as Director of the California Space Institute. A passionate advocate for science education, she created the Sally Ride Club and Sally Ride Science Camps to encourage young girls interested in mathematics, science and technology. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003, exactly 20 years after her historic flight. Sally Ride died of cancer in 2012, at the age of 61.