He found his father in the laboratory working with the electron microscope. Professor Maddox looked up and gestured toward the office. As Ken sat down, he shut the door behind them and took a seat behind his old oak desk that was still cluttered with unmarked examination papers. "You didn't say anything about where you were going this morning," he said. "I'm sorry about that," Ken answered. "I got up early and took a walk through town. All of a sudden--well, I guess I got panicky when it finally hit me as to what all this really means. I saw the wood detail going out and joined them. It felt good out there, with nothing to think about except getting a tree to fall right." "You ran away. You were needed here." Ken stammered. "I didn't think you wanted any of us kids around since you and the other men had taken over what we had started to do." "You were angry that it wasn't your own show any longer, weren't you?" "I guess that's part of it," Ken admitted, his face reddening. He didn't know what was happening. His father had never spoken to him like this before. He seemed suddenly critical and disapproving of everything about Ken. After a long time his father spoke again, more gently this time. "It's been your ambition for a long time to be a scientist, hasn't it?" "You know it has." "I've been very pleased, too. I've watched you and encouraged your interests and, as far as I can see, you've been developing in the right direction." "I'm glad you think so," Ken said. "But you've wanted to be a _great_ scientist. You've had an ambition to emulate men like Newton, Faraday, Davy, and the modern giants such as Einstein, Planck, de Broglie, Oppenheimer." "Maybe I haven't got the brains, but I can try." His father snorted impatiently. "Do you think any one of them tried deliberately to be great, or to copy anyone else?" Ken understood his meaning now. "I guess they didn't. You can't really do a thing like that." "No, you can't. You take the brains God has given you and apply them to the universe as you see it. The results take care of themselves. "Some of us have enough insight to achieve greatness. Most of us lack the cleverness to cope effectively with such a wily opponent as the natural universe. Greatness and mediocrity have no meaning to a man who is absorbed in his study. You do what you have to do. You do what the best and highest impulses of your brain tell you to do. Expect nothing more than this of yourself. Nothing more is possible." "I think I see what you mean," Ken said. "I doubt it. Most of the men I know have never learned it. They struggle to write more papers, to get their names in more journals than their colleagues. They go out of their way to be patted on the back. "They are the failures as scientists. For an example of success I recommend that you observe Dr. Larsen closely. He is a man who has done a great deal to advance our knowledge of physical chemistry."