It is very difficult to foresee what comes out of your invention. If you are a nuclear physicist, you are very likely to be in the field where weapons are concerned. That's why as a student I did not go into nuclear physicist although most of my classmates found this to be the most exciting topic. I went into solid state and I'm glad that I was right. I'm very grateful for these decisions.

Of course I had the opportunity to see what was going on. I was a student, had a very early scholarship for German students in the United States. I really looked and wanted to find out what is a good field. The transistor really was used for the benefit of humankind as a pacemaker and as a hearing aid was something that I really liked and I wanted to contribute to it. Just like working very hard on solar cells.

For example, maybe helping a better energy conversion and so on, get away from fossil or nuclear fuels although that is difficult. So these are parts of my philosophies but again, even if you try very hard you never know what comes out. Ottohan who found that uranium can be split up and that energy can be gleaned from it. He had of course no idea when he learnt that an atomic bomb was made. I knew Ottohan and had actually worked with some of his equipment.

So, there are certain areas you wouldn't go into,
say, perhaps matters of principle?

Matters of principle, yes, since I experienced the war in Germany, and I'm very grateful that I survived. I would like to make peaceful applications of science, and I also do not want to be entirely pure science, like orchid things that's what they're called in Germany. Orchid disciplines. I want to be in a combination where basic science & useful applications come very close together. It’s exciting.

Let's move on to talk about Professor Queisser the man. I understand Graham Bell once said that one should leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. Now that's exactly what you did. (QUEISSER:Yes) You've benefited quite a bit. Now tell us what actually made you venture out, leave everything that you've had, into the unknown?

From Germany, I did my Phd in Gerting, a famous university. Much of quantum theory was developed there. But on the other hand it's become stagnant, and I could easily read English language and Literature because of my one student here in the United States, no problem. I read whatever I could what was going on. It seems that modern physics, modern new applications will be created in the United States. Germany was still pretty much in ruins. It’s an international thing. Physics is really wonderful. Also coming to Singapore, immediately having contacts, lecturing in English, lecturing in mathematical terms, universal thing. I like that very much.

So when I got this offer from Shockley through one of my advisers, this is the adviser that Shockley wrote to this one professor, and said "I need somebody who's interested in modern silicon and defects". This professor said, "Well, here I suggest Hans Queisser", so I went. But my friends said, "Are you crazy? You give up a possible career, you could just stay here and wait until you climb the academic ladder. Not for me. No.

Was it gut feel? Why did you do it?

Well it was the feeling, I'm still young, unattached, let’s go and somehow I'll make it.

Scientific research takes up a lot of time and energy. Now how did you strike a balance being
a father of 3 young children?

This came later. Well I was in silicon valley, I really worked in, I often went to the labs, took my silicon out of the furnace in the middle of the night, stuck another piece in, in order to accelerate my research. But then our daughter was born in Stanford, the son was born near Bell Labs and so on. Yes at that time you have to … I think you must spend more time with your family, take good care of your children. We educated our children bilingually English and German, which I think was very nice.

Two languages really widen your horizon of everything, not just linguistically. So I tried to come home not too late, read goodnight stories in English to my kids when they were small, but very often I was away. I had to, especially back in Germany the competition, trying to set up a laboratory that could really compete in the top league. That was a lot of work. Was a lot of work. And very often I came home very late. Had to go in on Sundays and so on. But I hope I did not do very much and I must be very grateful to my wife who took very good care.

When you are in Singapore trying to nurture
the breed of entrepreneurs, people with the risk-taking spirit. What do you think is needed apart from all the things that the government has
been doing already?

WE had many many discussions on that very aspect at National University of Singapore last year even before that and this year again. You have a very disciplined group of students here, very well educated. Their math from high school and so on is much better than in the US. But they are strictly adhering to a fixed cycles of their education. They look on grades.

Grades is very important so they study for the exam and not for actual life. (ZA: They are trying to break that) I know that and that's why I tried in my lectures to do a little more of that. The dean and the top people from NUS said this is why we want you to really show a very different attitude. I tried to do that with humour, anecdotes and nudging people and say, yes here look at what can happen. Yes, you can get rich but you have to work very hard and so on.

A certain independence- you have to be a little bit rebellious and a little bit of it is coming. Having watched young Singaporeans over the years, it is happening. You should not give up the discipline. Especially modern industry demands high degrees of scientific knowledge and it demands a discipline. Silicon is such a difficult material, it disciplines the people working with it, you have to put on hoods, and you clean rooms and so on. You've to be very very attentive. Its not the easygoing way like in the Bronze Age.

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