Advice from Jared Diamond: scientist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Asking yourself serious questions such as: Have I lived my life to the full? Have I fought enough to fulfil my dreams? Am I the person I want to be both for myself and those close to me? This is the advice the ecologist, geographer, biologist, and anthropologist Jared Diamond offered graduates from Universidad de los Andes during his visit to Bogotá.

Diamond, who won the Pulitzer Prize, visited Colombia to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad de los Andes. Whilst in the capital, he also gave a talk that moved away from his scientific work and focused on life in general and how we can live despite natural difficulties.
The scientist spoke to a largely young public (at the Los Andes graduation ceremony) and told of his own career that has lasted for a little under fifty years.

Jared Diamond began his scientific career in physiology and then moved into evolutionary biology and biogeography. He has been an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

His many awards include the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the International Cosmos Prize, a scholarship from the MacArthur Foundation, and the Lewis Thomas Prize, which acknowledges scientists who have made a significant literary achievement and is awarded by the Rockefeller University.

He has published more than six-hundred articles, and his book Guns, Germs and Steel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.