A Heavyweight Clash: Scientist vs Engineer

Do science differently! That's the message from Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse, who believes that all the sciences should be more connected and respectful as we look to rebuild our world better.

Nurse was co-awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of protein molecules that control the division of cells. His recent book 'What Is Life?' illuminates five great ideas from biology.

Episode Highlights

“Scientific research is a bit of a random walk, and I want to communicate the role that luck played in quite a lot of what I've done.”

“Science can only thrive in a society where society actually respects and will adopt science to deal with all the issues that it has to deal with."

“The two communities [science and engineering] haven't always been properly integrated. To be blunt with you, there's a bit of snobbishness on both sides. The scientists think 'we are discovering the nature of life, the nature of the universe', and they tend to live in this sort of elevated stratosphere of great ideas. The engineers think 'we do something useful, we're practical, we're helpful for humankind, you're just playing the violin up there in the clouds'. And they both sort of can be rather sneery, one of the other."