Some questions, some answers

Dear Friends, This morning, I got a message from an American student (culinary art curriculum) : 1. What world events have contributed to the discoveries you've made in the molecular gastronomy field? 2. What technological advancements have been made throughout your time in this field that have been prominent contributors to the discovery of new ways of cooking? 3. Have changes in culture affected the way molecular gastronomy is preformed? 4. What interested you in the field of molecular gastronomy? Here are the answers : 1. Indeed, this is perhaps my English is poor, but I don't know why "world events" could have contributed to my scientific research. I insist: as my young friend is dealing with molecular gastronomy, I assume that he knows the big difference between molecular gastronomy (= quantitative science, looking for the mechanisms of phenomena, with absolutely no intent to do applications, only focusing on the goal of making discoveries) and molecular cooking (definition given in the Encyclopedia Britannica : cooking with modern tools). In this assumption, my correspondant is right to use the word "discoveries" (for technique or technology, as in molecular cooking, we should speak of "invention", not "discovery"). This being said, scientific research does not care about "world events" ! My discoveries (the formalism for disperse systems, my theory of bioactivity, new kind of gels, etc.) were based on my work, not on outside moves... but then, perhaps my English is poor, so that I don't understand the question. 2. Technological advancements ? Look to my book "Cours de gastronomie moléculaire N°1", and there are about 150 inventions, with a method for making inventions. In some cases, the "inventions" are formalisms, that you can use to make an infinite number of inventions. For example, the DSF( formalism for disperse systems) allows you to produce automatically (you can use a computer) formulas, that you can make really. As the number of possible formulas is infinite, the number of inventions of new food consistencies is also infinite ! But perhaps the main "invention" was molecular cooking, and more recently, the very exciting "note by note cooking" idea (see the book being published soon at Columbia University Press). More detailed ideas published every month on Pierre Gagnaire internet site ! 3. I am not sure to answer the question. 4. Why I am so interested in Molecular Gastronomy ? My goal in life is to contribute to Knowledge, as the great scientists of the past did. My heros are Faraday, Lavoisier, Newton, Galileo Galilei, Dirac, Würtz, but also Diderot and the Philosophers of the Enlightment Century. And Molecular Gastronomy is one particular branch of science. My sole goal in life is to be able to make important discoveries in science (and I am upset when I am doing technology, inventions, because this should not be part of my work, and it takes time to it : in particular, I am spending too much time on Note by Note Cooking... but this is the food of my children, probably).