John Sulston

“Our work on C. elegans emphasized the benefits of sharing large amounts of information. We took a global approach to discover the mechanisms that led to the development of the worm.”

“When it came to choice of subjects, science was obvious - since I was uninterested in anything else - but a decision that caused consternation in some eyes was my demand to take biology for A-level.”

“Title deeds establish and protect ownership of our houses, while security of property is as important to the proprietors of Tesco and Sainsbury's as it is to their customers.”

“I don't think one ought to bring a clearly disabled child into the world.”

“Whilst worthy in themselves, applications shouldn't be the only way to drive basic research.”

“It is not a Pandora's box that science opens; it is, rather, a treasure chest. We, humanity, can choose whether or not to take out the discoveries and use them, and for what purpose.”

“The currencies of science are discoveries and ideas; the rewards are the excitement of going where nobody has been before and, if one is inclined to such things, the kudos of peer acclaim, plus funds to do more research.”

“It was a matter of not living lavishly but enjoying what you had, growing things with your hands, working hard, but not being tied to a nine-to-five job, and generally feeling that there's more to life than money.”

“We can choose to address the twin issues of population and consumption to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption.”

“Many people thought that, given my knowledge of the egg, I should analyse embryonic mutants.”

“Science and the many benefits that science has produced have played a crucial part in our history and produced vast improvements to human welfare.”

“The free market is the epitome of life itself. This is something that all scientists recognise because science itself operates on free market lines.”

“In order to protect the market value of a proprietary database, the owner must prohibit redistribution of the contents - otherwise, the information would quickly leak out and be widely known.”

“In science, as in business, there must be structures that ensure the well endowed do not use their position to block competition.”

“An awful lot of food is thrown away. This you can call a spillover. It doesn't sort of enter into our economic system because it's a consequence of running things in a highly competitive way: the free market, global pricing and so on.”

“I believe our basic information, our 'software', should be free and open for everyone to play with, to compete with, to try and make products from. I do not believe it should be under the control of one person.”

“The human world lives in a framework called global economics. We live in a system based on GDP, which drives consumption. it causes people to compete with each other through trade in a way that they all grow.”

“Biomedical research is only as good as its delivery. Distribution of medicines by charities is no more than a stopgap.”

“Muriel, my mother, was my main confidant. She was a teacher of English at Watford grammar school but took a break while my sister Madeleine and I were children. She held court in the kitchen, and we talked about everything.”

“The only thing I have retained from my upbringing - I did not retain the religious element - is the idea that you do not do things for money.”