Hard work is one necessary ingredient for achieving an impact equivalent to John Nash's. Others include academic pedigree, financial stability, health, temperament, etc. In general, you need to work hard and be damn lucky.
These things help but of all those, I think the only common factor is the hard work in terms of making revolutionary contributions to science. I can name plenty of greats who lacked some of these other items but I can't think of any who just had it all come easy to them without putting the time in (correct me if I'm wrong which I may be, I have only begun to study the history of innovation)
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Hard work is one necessary ingredient for achieving an impact equivalent to John Nash's. Others include academic pedigree, financial stability, health, temperament, etc. In general, you need to work hard and be damn lucky.
These things help but of all those, I think the only common factor is the hard work in terms of making revolutionary contributions to science. I can name plenty of greats who lacked some of these other items but I can't think of any who just had it all come easy to them without putting the time in (correct me if I'm wrong which I may be, I have only begun to study the history of innovation)