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John Hennessy
President of Stanford University
John Hennessy: I think the American Dream is about opportunity. It is really about giving every individual in this country, every citizen, the opportunity to accomplish something, to use their skills and their abilities, their perseverance, their hard work, to make the world better, to make a difference, to contribute something. It is really that contribution, that contribution is its own reward, and I think if you can make a difference, and you can look back on what you have achieved, what you have contributed and take pride in it, then I think you've realized the American Dream.
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Sir Edmund Hillary
Conqueror of Mt. Everest
Sir Edmund Hillary: I would advise them to aim high. To set their sights at a pretty tough target and don't be too worried if you're not successful at first. Just keep persisting and keep improving your standards, getting better and better and ultimately, you've got a pretty fair chance at achieving your desired goal. I am not one of those people who believe, for instance, that every American could, if they so wish, become President of the United States. I mean, there's a limited number of Presidents of the United States and, obviously, only a few are going to achieve that. But, I do think that virtually everybody that's born has the ability to be very competent at doing something. I think that, in itself, is worthy of aiming towards, just to be competent at doing anything you particularly wish to do.
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David Ho
AIDS Research Pioneer
Only in America would a 37 year-old be given that opportunity to become an institute director. I think the culture overall here is enlightened enough to be able to give responsibility to a young person without that much regard for age and with greater emphasis on merit, on potential, and such things. It's in many ways an amazing experience. I've done well. I was working hard. I had a certain vision of what I wanted to do and those things fitted well with the goals of the new institute. So, I was given the chance and I believe I've taken advantage of that golden opportunity.
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David Ho
AIDS Research Pioneer
Just coming back to my own area, AIDS, it's now a problem largely of developing countries. A vaccine would probably have not made that much of a difference to the United States, but yet the vaccine research for AIDS is almost entirely funded by U.S. money. So it's taken the broader view, that this is a problem for the world and therefore we're going to solve it. And, this is not limited to AIDS. Malaria is not much of a problem, yet we're taking it on, same with tuberculosis and so on and so forth. The past few years, as I had more and more chance to reflect upon my career so far and my life so far, I've come to appreciate much more of what this country is.
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