Itisnotnecessarytobeagreatscientisttomakeadifference,buttherearethingswecanlearnfromthebestmindsinthisworld.GreatscientistslikeStephenHawkingalwayswanttoknowmore.Theyareneversatisfiedwithasimpleanswerandarealwayslookingfornewquestions.TheltalianastronomerGalileoGalileiwassocuriousthatheusedamicroscopeandatelescopeinordertobeabletotakeacloserlookatthingsbothgreatandsmall.Byaskingwhy,howandwhatif,curiousmindsfindnewideasandsolutions.Ifknowledgeispower,asSirFrancisBaconwrotein1597,thenperhapscreativitycanbediscribedastheabilitytousethatpower.Scientistsmustbecreativeandusetheirimaginationallthetime.WhenZhangHeng,theChineseastronomerandgeographer,wantedtodrawamapoftheheavens,hewasnotsatisfiedwithasimplepapermap.Instead,hebuiltamodelthatcouldmoveinordertoshowhowthepositionofthestarschangedfromseasontoseason.Wemustbelieveinwhatwedo,evenwhenothersdonot.BothGalileoandZhangHengfounditdifficulttomakepeoplebelievethattheirtheorieswerecorrect.PeoplelaughedatZhangHengwhenhefirstintroducedhisseismograph,anditwasonlylaterthattheworldrecognizedhisgreatness.Galileo'sobservationsshowthatCopernicus,anothergreatastronomer,wasrightandthattheearthmovesaroundthesun,nottheotherwayaround.Atthattime,thechurchsaidthattheearthwasthecentreoftheuniverseandGalileowasnotallowedtopublishordiscusshisobservations.TodaybothZhangHengandGalileoareknownasscientificpioneerswhohelpedusbetterunderstandtheworld.Perhapsthemostimportantthingifwewanttomakeadifferenceistofindsomethingthatweliketodoandthatwearegoodat.Knowingwhowearemeansknowinghowwethinkandwhatweliketodo.Eeveryonehashisorherspecialskillsandinterests,andonlybydiscoveringwhatwedobestcanwehopetoreachourgoalsandtrulymakeadifference.
