Aziz Sancar: “Teachers determine the nation’s future”
Professor of the North Carolina University of the US, the Nobel Prize Laureate Aziz Sancar who is currently visiting Azerbaijan met with Media representatives at UNEC.
Expressing loves to Baku, A.Sancar said he is pleased to visit Azerbaijan: “I loved Baku very much; it is a beautiful and neat city. I suppose that I had had very sufficient meetings here. I met with Education Minister and a President of the ANAS. I witnessed that the scholars in Azerbaijan possess rich knowledge and conduct very useful affairs.
The Nobel Prize winner assessed the work done in the field of non-technologies in Azerbaijan. He responded the journalists’ questions about the emergence and treatment of diabetes and cancer. He said the treatment of diabetes and cancer is still not found fully. A healthy lifestyle is the best way to fight diabetes. However, people should care about their health before they catch any disease. To prevent cancer you may at least stop smoking. 30 percent of cancer around the world occurs from cigarettes. The scientists are working on remaining percent in the world. They achieved some success, but it is difficult to say when the cancer will disappear and when the will its treatment be found”. Commenting on the allegations made in connection with the increase of cancer as a result of the development of technologies in recent years, A.Sancar noted although there are claims in this regard, there is no evidence to prove that.
The scholar who devoted his life to science said if I were born once again I would have chosen the profession of teacher: “Teaching is a really sacred profession. They determine the nation’s future”.
Highlighting that the Nobel is not a key factor, the scholar said his name was indicated in the textbooks before he was awarded: “My name has been mentioned in the textbooks in Biochemistry since 1982. The Nobel Prize introduced me to people who are not engaged in this area. Lack of the Nobel Prize does not diminish the contributions made by a scientist. For example, Lutvi Zadeh was not awarded as there is no the Nobel Prize in Mathematics. But I can say with certainty that Lutvi Zadeh is greater than the Nobel. I was quite astonished when acquainted with his invention 20 years before”.
In the end of the meeting A.Sancar once more expressed satisfaction of his trip in Azerbaijan; ‘I had a week left deep impressions on me. So I am grateful to you!”
A.Sancar was presented an exclusive Garabagh tie with a khari bulbul (nightingale) on it.