Nobel prize winner got poor marks in science

From the San Francisco Chronicle 

Teacher knows best? hat doesn't appear to be the case for one teacher who called a future Nobel Prize winner's dreams of becoming a scientist "quite ridiculous" in a scathing report card. John Gurdon's future success was almost nipped in the bud in 1949 when a schoolmaster at elite Eton College wrote on his report card that pursuing science would be a waste of time. 

"His work has been far from satisfactory," the teacher wrote. "If he can't learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those who have to teach him." 

The teacher said that the teenage Gurdon had gotten into trouble several times and didn't listen. The scientific community could argue it's a good thing he didn't.After starting out studying classics at Oxford, Gurdon switched to zoology. In 1962, he showed that the DNA from specialized cells of frogs, like skin or intestinal cells, could be used to generate new tadpoles — a breakthrough rewarded Monday with the Nobel Prize for Medicine, which he shared with Japan's Shinya Yamanaka. 

Scientists are trying to build on the work of Gurdon and Yamanaka to create replacement tissues for treating diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. This Appeared Here…..   

My Take - It is clear that some come into their own later than others.  The important part of this story in my view is the thing that has been obvious to me for many years.  In so many cases advanced formal education teaches people what to think; not how to think.  The system then forced them not to think outside the "consensus".  Once they were properly molded.... then and only then would they be "eligible" for government grant money. 

It takes a strong personality to be the rock in the current of conventional thinking, but those with intelligence, courage and fortitude will eventually win through......if they're right.  One of my personal heroes in the Pest Control industry has been Chuck Steinmetz.  He once told me that "the only thing you needed to be successful in business was brains and guts; and you can hire brains!"   I think that is true in so many venues.  A pound of guts is worth a ton of brains.