The [Nobel ]prize is such an extraordinary honor. It might seem unfair, however, to reward a person for having so much pleasure over the years, asking the maize plant to solve specific problems and then watching its responses.
Bio: William Ellery Channing was a Transcendentalist poet, nephew of the Unitarian preacher Dr. William Ellery Channing. The younger Ellery Channing was thought brilliant but undisciplined by many of his contemporaries.