Who Changed You?
Two weeks ago, François Englert died.
Englert won the Nobel Prize in Physics for helping explain how elementary particles acquire mass through the spontaneous breaking of electroweak gauge symmetry by a scalar quantum field.
If you’re still reading, thank you.
I realize mentioning quantum mechanics in the second paragraph is a bold strategy. It’s right up there with discussing municipal zoning laws on a first date. But stay with me.
Because this is not a story about physics. It's about how François Englert became who he was.
And how all of us become who we are.
Long before there was a Nobel Prize, there was a secondary school mathematics teacher who took an interest in François.
Not someone famous. Not someone who won awards or made headlines.
He was just an educator who noticed a shy but curious student and altered the direction of a life.
I knew that story because I’d seen it before.
My son has a PhD in infectious disease genomics. Like Englert’s parents, I can’t take credit for what he does today. But I know who can.
A high school science teacher.
Like Englert’s mentor, Mr. Wise never earned a doctorate, ran a laboratory, or published a research paper. He simply took an interest in my son, gave him the confidence he needed, and helped him find his path.
Different country. Different generation. Different subject.
The same story.
It’s easy to overlook relationships like these because they rarely seem extraordinary while they’re unfolding.
Someone who looked at you and saw more than you saw in yourself.
Someone who stayed patient while you figured things out.
Someone who cared more about your future than your mistakes.
Someone who gave you the courage to take a step you wouldn’t have taken alone.
Someone who changed your life without ever realizing it.
At different points in our lives, we have been both the student and the teacher. The one who needed someone to believe in us, and the one with the opportunity to believe in someone else.
That second role is easy to underestimate.
We tend to measure our lives by our own accomplishments. But for most of us, our greatest contribution to the future won’t be something we achieve. It will be someone we encourage.
Because very few of us change the world ourselves. Most of us change someone who will.
It's hard to know when you’re standing in one of those moments. One conversation may be routine for you and unforgettable for someone else.
One expression of confidence you barely remember may become the reason another person changes careers, masters a new skill, starts a business, keeps going when they were ready to quit, or discovers what they want to do with the rest of their life.
Change has a way of turning all of us into both teachers and students. Which brings me back to François Englert.
History remembers the Nobel Prize.
He remembered the man who made it possible.