Local PIs talk about their favorite historical discovery in science and technology and their dreams for the future.

**

If you could travel back in time and take part in a historical, transformative scientific discovery or technological achievement, what would it be and why? (This can be in your field or outside of your field.)

Chris Stubbs, professor of physics and astronomy, Harvard University

If given a choice, I would set the dials on the time machine to 1666, bound for England. Sidestepping the plague as I exit the machine, I would find my way to the lair of Isaac Newton. I’d use my invisibility cloak (standard issue with all time machines) to watch Newton establish the foundations of modern physics, as well as inventing (discovering?) new mathematics along the way.

Richard Clapp, professor of environmental health, Boston University

If I could travel back in time, I would like to participate in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. I’m told that Crick did the scientific work and Watson bought the coffee and cigarettes and I’d like to see if this was true.

Kerry Emanuel, professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, MIT

It would have been nice to have contributed to the fundamentals of fluid dynamics that were developed early in the 19th century. A lot of what goes on in nature has to do with fluids and fluid behavior: the air we breathe, the water we’re made out of, for example.

Cutler Cleveland, professor of geography and environment, Boston University

The introduction of electric power into human society. It was such a transforming event. It was a form of energy that could do lots of other things that other forms of energy simply could not do or could do very clumsily. It altered the trajectory of civilization.

What “holy grail” scientific discovery or technological achievement do you hope will be made in the next 30 years? (This can be in your field or outside of your field.)

Chris Stubbs

I sincerely hope we will discover the nature of the dark matter that dominates the matter inventory of the universe and galaxies like the Milky Way. I’m apprehensive that asking for a similar understanding of the dark energy may be too optimistic.

Richard Clapp

The “holy grail” I’d like to see in the next 30 years is getting from a carbon-based energy system to a hydrogen-based one. This could mean using power from renewable sources like wind or the sun to split water and store hydrogen for use in fuel cells. Every home and workplace could have fuel cells that provide their energy and remove them from the grid. Even better, excess energy from these fuel cells could be fed back into the grid and public utilities would pay the customers, instead of the reverse.

Kerry Emanuel

I would really like to see us fully understand and account for why we had ice age cycles on the planet. We’re at the stage where we’re reasonably sure what forced the ice age cycles: periodic variations of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. But the response of the climate to those orbital variations, as recorded in ice cores and deep-sea sediments, is far from being understood. It would be a terrific breakthrough in our understanding of the planet if we could understand that.

Cutler Cleveland

A replacement for oil. If you look at the range of forecasts for when world oil production will peak, you’ll see that they fall anywhere between 2015 and 2035. That will be a watershed moment in human history because oil is the lifeblood of industrialized civilization. Within 30 years, we’re going to have to be well into developing substitutes for oil, and right now, we don’t have a good one.

Have your say. How would you answer these questions? What other questions should we ask in our next survey? And who should we ask? Post your answers and suggestions here. Or you can email the editor at c.lok at boston.nature.com.