Albert Lasker
Basic Medical Research Award

Acceptance Remarks by Rosalyn Yalow

The frustrations and frequent failures experienced by scientific investigators are compensated for by certain satisfactions. The most rewarding of these is the pleasure and excitement of having learned something that no one knew before. Then we enjoy communicating what we have learned, in the expectation that it will light the path for others.

I am pleased to accept this Award and to express my gratitude to the scientific community for its recognition of our work, by the ever-increasing applications of radioimmunoassay in biomedical investigation and clinical medicine. My joy at this time is marred only by the sadness that because of Sol Berson's premature death four years ago, he cannot share this moment with me just as we shared 22 years of collaboration in scientific discovery and adventure.

At this time when the people and their representatives in the government keep asking scientists—"What have you done for us today?"—it is important to remember that were we to gather 10,000 artists and give them paint, canvas, and money, we would be assured of many excellent paintings—but no guarantee of a Michelangelo or a Sistine Chapel.

Real progress in science continues to arise unpredictably from individual scientists or small groups. We cannot predict from which direction the next intuitive leap in research in diabetes, cancer, molecular biology, or the energy crisis will come. We can be certain only that the presence of a cadre of investigators with diversified training and areas of expertise, dedicated to the belief that the ultimate reward of science is its benefit to man, will assure that the time-lag between the generation of the idea and its practical application to the service of man will be minimal.

The first telescope opened the heavens; the first microscope opened the world of the microbes; the first prism brought forth color from white light; radioisotopic methodology, as exemplified by RIA, too, has the potential for opening new worlds in science and medicine. Thank you.