By Paul House

Today Professor Richard N Zare of Stanford University spoke on practical problem solving skills and strategies to succeed in scientific research. Professor Zare graduated from Harvard University where he earned a duel degree in Chemistry and Physics (1961), and his PhD in Chemical Physics (1964). After a busy teaching career at many top universities Professor Zare moved to Stanford in 1977 where he still teaches today and is Chair of the Department of Chemistry.

Gleaning from his years of experience Professor Zare gave students many strategies to succeed in research emphasizing the need for independent and innovative thinking. Professor Zare stressed that solving problems is a personal endeavor and teachers should not give in to the temptation to impose their own methods on students. Professor Zare encouraged students to remain child-like and not be afraid to fail many times before succeeding.

Professor Zare emphasized his points with many practical problems for the audience to try solve on the spot. This lent an engaging flavor to his lecture that will not be easy to forget. Zare’s examples showed the audience how to question initial assumptions, to think outside of the box, and to attempt seemingly impossible problems that may have unexpected answers. Professor Zare emphasized that most great and innovative discoveries happen by accident.

To close his lecture Professor Zare reiterated the importance of remaining child-like when focusing on problems, and to remember the 3 Ps: Passion, Persistence, and Playfulness, to have a successful scientific career. Despite all his talk on solving problems, Professor Zare ended his talk with an interesting twist, stating that the biggest problems in science are not finding the answers, but asking the right questions.

(Photo by Guo Haijun)