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Having started in sciences, I then turned around and said, 'Oh, I don't want to do sciences. I want to do philosophy.' And to their credit my parents said, 'if that's what you want to do, then go for it'. Then I got the scholarship to Stanford, which was very nice for the parents to talk to their friends about.

Both my parents instilled an interest in science and mathematics.

My parents were neither wealthy nor academic, but we lived comfortably and they were always extremely supportive of my academic efforts and aspirations, both at school and university.

My parents came from a poor background and worked their way up because of education. They saw it as a way to succeed. So they cared about me getting straight A grades when I was growing up.

Education is very important to my parents and to me.

I think becoming a scientist is the product of parents who gave me enormous opportunities to master nature.

Luckily my parents were not against my ambition, they've always been very supportive. But they were adamant that I went to university first.

My parents, once I made it clear to them that I wanted to do science, they were totally sympathetic.

My parents were marvelously educated people.

I knew I wanted considerable education so that I wouldn't have to work as hard as my parents.