Makoto Kobayashi (physicist)

There is no promised road leading to definite results. What's important is how to keep open as many options as possible.

Makoto Kobayashi (born April 7, 1944) is a Japanese physicist well-known for his work on CP-violation. He was awarded, along with Toshihide Maskawa, half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."

Quotes

• You never know where a breakthrough might occur, so please pursue various possibilities for potential research. You may not see results as quickly as you wish, but always remember to respect your ideas when you research.
  • "Unraveling the Origins of the Universe", JAXA interview (January 15, 2009)

• We don't know where breakthroughs will come from and there is no guarantee that they will come from a popular area which is currently drawing a lot of attention. I think the natural pattern is that something new, something which no one was paying attention to before appears when there is a bottleneck. It would be a serious mistake to nip things like this in the bud.
  • Interview, IPMU News No 5 (March 2009)

• There is no promised road leading to definite results. What's important is how to keep open as many options as possible.
  • Interview, IPMU News No 5 (March 2009)