Just doing some “surfing” and came across these classic scientific articles. It is a series celebrating landmark papers published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS).
John Nash: Game Theory
The Mathematics of Strategy | PNAS
The Nash equilibrium concept has become a benchmark by which economists and other scientists measure both rational behavior and the extent to which humans depart from pure rationality. Over the years, this concept has illuminated questions in economics, psychology, and even biology. In 1994, it earned Nash the Nobel prize in economics.
Hubble’s Guide to the Expanding Universe | PNAS
Hubble’s early meanderings almost detoured him completely from a career in astronomy and gave no indication of his ultimate role as the “father of cosmology.” After receiving an undergraduate degree in mathematics and astronomy from the University of Chicago, Hubble made a promise to his dying father to study law. His intelligence and athleticism helped him land a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University, where he ran track, played baseball and basketball, and boxed while earning his law degree. As a new attorney, Hubble joined the Kentucky bar association upon his return to the United States, but switched tracks again to teach high school Spanish.
However, Hubble’s heart was with the stars. After one year as a high school teacher, he signed on as a graduate student at Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago and earned his PhD in astronomy. Although a short term as an enlisted soldier in World War I almost sidetracked him once again, Hubble was invited to join the staff of Mt. Wilson Observatory in 1919.
After several trials of model-making, and just as many errors, Pauling finally hit on the first–and still most important–structure defined in his protein papers. While confined to bed with a bad cold, Pauling claims that he amused himself by drawing chemical structures on pieces of paper. By twisting the paper to simulate chemical bonds between segments, Pauling finally grasped the structure of the alpha helix.
Seems like the “cold” has played prominently throughtout Dr. Pauling’s life—from protein structure to vitamin C.