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E.A. Thompson 459I have given many lectures in diverse academic settings, and received manygenerous and kind introductions, but one which I treasure was given at a recentseminar visit to a Department of Statistics. I was introduced by one of myformer PhD students, who said that I had taught him three things:Think science: Think positive: Think why.Think science: For me, the scientific questions motivate the statistical thinking.Although, as a student taking exams, I did better with the clearly definedworld of mathematical proofs than with the uncertainties of statistical thinking,I could never have become a research mathematician. Answering examquestions was easy; knowing what questions to ask was for me impossible. Fortunately,genetic science came to my rescue: there the questions are endlessand fascinating.Think positive: Another of my former students has said that he got throughhis (excellent) PhD work, because whenever he came to me in despair thathis results were not working out, my response was always “But that’s reallyinteresting”. Indeed, many things in research do not work out the way weexpect, and often we learn far more from what does not work than from whatdoes.Think why: And when it does not work (or even when it does) the first andmost important question is “Why?” (Thompson, 2004). If there is anythingthat distinguishes the human species from other organisms it is not directlyin our DNA, but in our capacity to ask “Why?”. Inresearch,atleast,thisisthe all-important question.Think science: Think positive: Think why.If my students have learned this from me, this is far more important to theirfutures and to their students’ futures than any technical knowledge I couldhave provided.ReferencesAbecasis, G.R., Cherny, S.S., Cookson, W.O., and Cardon, L.R. (2002). Merlin— rapid analysis of dense genetic maps using sparse gene flow trees.Nature Genetics, 30:97–101.Besag, J.E. and Green, P.J. (1993). Spatial statistics and Bayesian computation.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 55:25–37.Botstein, D., White, R.L., Skolnick, M.H., and Davis, R.W. (1980). Constructionof a linkage map in man using restriction fragment polymorphism.American Journal of Human Genetics, 32:314–331.