Edith HeardCollège de FranceEpigénétique et mémoire cellulaireCours 2023-2024Conférence : Reflections on the Scientific EnterpriseWho Becomes a Professional Scientist and Why? My Path from Literature and Medicine to Basic BiologyHarold E. VarmusPrix Nobel de physiologie ou médecineRésuméI will begin by talking about the nature of scientific thought, contrasted with the experience of working in a complex "enterprise." Then I will note some of the reasons (personal, cultural, economic, political or other) that explain why people chose a career in science. I will describe in detail my own unusual route, influenced by literature, medicine, the Vietnam War, and finally the appeal of laboratory work. I will also recount how choice of a scientific career was displayed in a famous old movie and summarize my concerns about the unequal representation in the demography of science.