The story started when I met the late Martin Perl in Tokyo, Japan. At the time, I had a model of the levels of mastery, and I was pondering how to do something empirical about it. As Martin and I were becoming friends, I figured that I could assume that Nobel Laureates are at the highest “grandmaster” level of mastery, and so I decided to interview a few of them. Soon after that, I met Marc Stierand, a chef-turned-scholar, who soon became my PhD student. Using his chef background, Marc interviewed some of the finest chefs in the world for his doctoral study. And thus the Grandmaster research program was born.
See publications on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Grandmaster-Research-Programme
| Name | Prize(s) |
| Kenneth J. Arrow† | John Bates Clark Medal (1957), Nobel Prize in Economics (1972), von Neumann Theory Prize (1986), National Medal of Science (2004) |
| Paul Berg | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1980), Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award (1982), National Medal of Science (1983) |
| James W. Cronin† | Research Corporation Award (1968), John Price Wetherill Medal (1975), Ernest O. Lawrence Award (1977), Nobel Prize in Physics (1980), National Medal of Science (1999) |
| Michael J. Flynn | Eckert-Mauchly Award (1992), Harry H. Goode Memorial Award (1995), IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award (1996), Tesla Medal (1998) |
| Robert W. Fogel† | Nobel Prize in Economics (1993) |
| Sheldon L. Glashow | George Ledlie Award (1978), Nobel Prize in Physics (1979) |
| Roy J. Glauber† | Michelson Medal (1985), Max Born Award (1985), Dannie Heineman Prize (1996), Nobel Prize in Physics (2005), ‘Medalla de Oro del CSIC’ (2008) |
| David J. Gross | Dirac Medal (1988), Nobel Prize in Physics (2004) |
| Daniel Kahneman | APS Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (1982), Nobel Prize in Economics (2002), APA Lifetime Achievement Award (2007) |
| Robert E. Lucas Jr. | Nobel Prize in Economics (1995) |
| Yoichiro Nambu† | National Medal of Science (1982), Dirac Medal (1986), J.J. Sakurai Prize (1994), Wolf Prize in Physics (1994/1995), Nobel Prize in Physics (2008) |
| George A. Olah† | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1994), Priestley Medal (2005) |
| Douglas D. Osheroff | Simon Memorial Prize (1976), Oliver E. Buckley Prize (1981), MacArthur Prize (1981), Nobel Prize in Physics (1996) |
| Yale N. Patt | Emanuel R. Piore Award (1995), IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award (1996), Eckert-Mauchly Award (1996), Wallace W. McDowell Award (1999), IEEE Third Millenium Medal (2000), Charles Babbage Award (2005) |
| Martin L. Perl† | Wolf Prize in Physics (1982), Nobel Prize in Physics (1995) |
| Edward C. Prescott | Alexander Henderson Award (1967), Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics (2002), Nobel Prize in Economics (2004) |
| F. Sherwood Rowland† | Tolman Medal (1976), Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1983), Japan Prize (1989), Peter Debye Award (1993), Roger Revelle Medal (1994), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1995) |
| Joseph H. Taylor Jr. | Heineman Prize (1980), Henry Draper Medal (1985), Tomalla Foundation Prize (1987), Magellanic Premium (1990), John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science (1991), Albert Einstein Medal (1991), Wolf Prize in Physics (1992), Nobel Prize in Physics (1993) , Karl Schwarzschild Medal (1997) |
| Eric F. Wieschaus | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1995) |