Iowa has very few trout streams, but the Devil's Backbone State Park, in the hilly northeast near the Mississippi, does have a small stream where trout can survive.

When I was about twelve, Dad took me fishing there. The stream was small enough to jump accross, with many sharp bends and deep holes filled with brush and branches. Dad let me fish downstream first, and followed later. Using a worm and splitshot sinker, I fished carefully (I though) and had one trout at the end of the morning. Dad, using the same fishing tackle and bait, caught his limit of fish!

Without his saying a word, or meaning to be a teacher, Dad had taught me a very important lesson which I have never forgotten. I honestly believe it was responsible for my success as a research scientist and inventor; and I think it can apply in any walk of life.

The lesson is obvious; do an average job like an average person, and get mediocre results. Do an excellent job, using real perseverance, all of your talent and know-how as if you expect results, and you succeed where others fail!

In my profession, I have fished for new knowledge, often covering waters that many others had searched before me. When I was young, I though this might be fruitless; but I soon learned that, by taking advantage of Dad's fishing lesson, I could make important discoveries. Most of my inventions have been made in the field of Glass, which is thousands of years old; and you are probably using some of my sixy-four patented inventions, such as Corning Ware (r), Visions (r), and Photogray(r) spectacles (perfected with the help of my colleagues at Corning Inc.)