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Safi Bahcall
Physicist. Ex-CEO (biotech). Author of LOONSHOTS 🚀 amzn.to/34GKeTH
Safi Bahcall is an American physicist, entrepreneur, and author. He wrote the international bestseller "Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries," which has been translated into 18 languages and widely acclaimed.12
Bahcall's academic background is impressive. He received his BA summa cum laude in physics from Harvard University and completed his PhD in physics at Stanford University.14 After his studies, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Company for three years.1
In 2001, Bahcall founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer. He led the company's IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years.1 His entrepreneurial success was recognized when he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.1
Bahcall has also been involved in science policy, working with President Obama's Council of Science Advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research in 2011.1 Currently, he advises CEOs and leadership teams on strategy and innovation.1
Born in 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey, Bahcall comes from a family of scientists. His parents were the physicist John Bahcall and astrophysicist Neta Bahcall.4 His early passion for science led him to enroll in physics and mathematics classes at Princeton University from ages 13 to 16.4
Bahcall's book "Loonshots" combines physics, business, and history to reveal new ways of thinking about group behavior and innovation.12 It has been recommended by notable figures such as Bill Gates, Daniel Kahneman, and Malcolm Gladwell.3
Highlights
43 years ago, a pair of family friends presented me with a poem written by Albert Einstein. The poem is unpublished; this post is its first share, as far as I know.
The poem was typed in German at the top of a single sheet of paper by Helen Dukas, a friend of my grandmother. The handwritten translation underneath was by Abraham Pais, a colleague of my father’s at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, NJ. Einstein wrote it, they told me, on the occasion of a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah. That morning I had celebrated my bar mitzvah.
Dukas, I learned later, had been Einstein's assistant for 30 years and was co-trustee of his literary estate. (She also gifted me a book from Einstein’s personal library: a biography of Kepler, photo below.) Pais had been a close friend of Einstein’s. A year later, he published what is still, to this day, the best biography of Einstein.
At the time, I was 13 and disappointed. I had no interest in poetry or books about Kepler or Einstein. I wanted a Swiss army knife.
I got over my disappointment, eventually. At a recent gathering, when asked to share a work of art or poetry that had been meaningful to me, the choice was easy. Einstein's poem by itself is not much. But for me it's a symbol, a reminder of Einstein the person not the legend; his values not his equations.
Who you admire reveals what you value. Speaking at the eulogy for his mentor, Hendrik Lorentz, Einstein said that Lorentz's work was “of such consistency, lucidity, and beauty as has only rarely been attained in an empirical science.” He also said about Lorentz: “Though he had no illusions about people and human affairs, he was full of kindness toward everybody and everything.” Einstein ended with a description that sounds familiar: "A subtle humor guarded him, which was reflected in his eyes and in his smile.”
Who you admire may also become who you model.
Science, heart, beauty. Plus some levity. They came together, Einstein wrote, in his heritage: “The Jewish tradition also contains something else, something which finds splendid expression in many of the Psalms, namely, a sort of intoxicated joy and amazement at the beauty and grandeur of this world… This joy is the feeling from which true scientific research draws its spiritual sustenance.”
Perhaps that’s why Einstein celebrated the Jewish rite of passage with a poem. For him science and heart and beauty were one.
Or maybe it was this: “The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth … the trite objects of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.”
That may be why the boy a century ago received a poem, not a more tangible gift from Einstein. And why I didn’t get my Swiss army knife.
We both got something better.
A reminder of the ideals that matter, from someone to whom ideas mattered above all.
So proud of my mother!
"The American Astronomical Society has awarded its highest honor to Princeton astrophysicist Neta Bahcall, Princeton’s Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy. The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded annually for “a lifetime of eminence in astronomical research.”
The society cited Bahcall “for her central contributions to determining the average density of matter in the universe and establishing the concordance model of cosmology.” The award announcement also praised her “dedication to astronomical education” and her “exemplary service to the community.” Recipients of the honor give a public astronomy lecture that the society also publishes in one of its journals.
Bahcall came to Princeton in 1971 as the first female postdoctoral researcher in astrophysics and stayed on as a research scientist until 1983, when she left to lead the Hubble Space Telescope’s science team. She returned to Princeton in 1989 as a full professor. She has served as the director of undergraduate studies for Princeton’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences since 1993.
With this announcement, Bahcall becomes half of the first husband-and-wife team to share the honor. Her husband, John Bahcall, a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Study who also was a visiting lecturer with rank of professor at Princeton, delivered the Henry Norris Russell Lecture in 1999.
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Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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