If you will agree that, by virtue of their objectively defined eminence, the contributors to this volume qualify as eminent, then you might ask what characteristics you would need to develop to become an eminent researcher like they are. I have reviewed the contributions in this book and find that the contributors, collectively, show the characteristics that theories of creativity identify as critical for doing creative work. What are some of these characteristics?

1. • Hard work. When you read the essays, you find that all of the scientists have at least one thing in common: They have worked incredibly hard. There are lots of smart people in this world – people with elevated test scores, high grades, clever ideas. But without hard work, you just can't get on a list of top researchers.

2. • Willingness to formulate an extended program of research. In academia, there are plenty of “one-shot” wonders – scientists who have one great idea and then are never able to get past it. Although most of the investigators in this book have written about their best – or, at least, favorite – idea, in no case did they just do one big study and then call it a day. All of the investigators pursued their big idea(s) through extended investigations, testing the ideas, comparing the ideas to opposing ideas, revising the ideas as needed. They all were in the research enterprise as a marathon, not as a sprint.

3. • Willingness to set their own, often idiosyncratic paths. Some investigators began their key research with their doctoral advisors. Others set out on paths entirely different from those of their advisors. But none of the contributors just took someone else's idea and pursued it. However they may have started out, they eventually forged their own path, moving forward (or sometimes sideways) along whatever paths they or their advisors may have started on.

4. • Willingness to surmount obstacles. There is quite a bit of variation in the described level of obstacles the investigators met. Some speak of obstacles strewn all along the paths they followed; others hardly mention obstacles at all. But you cannot achieve greatness without setbacks, including major ones: critical grant proposals turned down, major articles rejected, failed colloquia, conflicts with collaborators. The great investigators persist in the face of difficulties that would lead others simply to give up.