So when I returned, even though for various reasons I remained there for eight years, I always saw it as temporary. Obviously I'm on a general pathway, which keeps me in science and medicine. I'm not on Wall Street, nor am I manufacturing plumbing utilities. Within a particular trajectory, each person is subject to all sorts of accidents. And for all the precision it demands, laboratory work is no different, he says.
Serendipity plays a role in research, and so do intuitive ideas.
You pursue some, and some turn out to be wrong. You must always be ready to drop an idea when you see that you're on the wrong pathway.