David Baltimore, president of the California Institute of Technology, writes about events of the past year in his Annual Report cover letter. He describes various research projects, technical successes, new fundraising initiatives, and campus improvements underway. He also tells of comings and goings among the faculty, and mourns the deaths of several key alumni and faculty members. Baltimore concludes:

When we remember men like these, we are reminded of another — and perhaps the most profound — way Caltech influences the world: by training future scientists and engineers. If we did not take the educational component of our mission so seriously, the ranks of the scientific community would be significantly diminished (and I would have far less news to report in this letter). Our illustrious predecessors also remind us of what could be accomplished in an era much less technologically sophisticated than ours. They saw clearly that science is fundamentally a human endeavor, creative and unpredictable, one that finds its highest expression in benefiting humankind. It is a vision that still guides Caltech today.

Lovely words — which also well describe the vision that guides all explorers, scholars, teachers, students, ...

(see also EducationOfTheYouth (1 Dec 2001), PursuitOfExcellence (22 Feb 2002), ThankYouBellLabs (26 May 2003), ExplorersClub (12 Jun 2004), ScientificAmerican (11 Sep 2004), ...)

TopicScience - TopicSociety - 2005-02-28

(correlates: KnowledgeAndSociety, FinalLesson, HappyMoments, ...)