In 2004, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, ICTP provided insight to this question when it published One Hundred Reasons to be a Scientist, an anthology of brief and personal accounts by scientists who have some connection to ICTP. Many are Nobel, Fields, or Wolf Prize winners.
 
Earlier in their careers, before they became prestigious laureates, many of the scientists featured in One Hundred Reasons to be a Scientist were awarded ICTP's Dirac Medal, given in honour of theoretical physicist and Nobel winner P.A.M. Dirac. ICTP will highlight their stories on its website as a lead up to this year’s announcement, which takes place every year on 8 August (Dirac’s birthday).