In a biography of Bardeen, recently published, he does not fit the popular stereotype of scientific genius, for he is surprisingly sane and ordinary. As far as character goes, he had several assets. To start with he was a notable team builder. Tenacious when it came to attacking problems, he had the gift of breaking a large problem down into smaller, more soluble parts and then reassembling the whole. As a teacher, his habit of stopping to think allowed his students to do so too. Government and industry valued his advice- according to one commentator, he helped Xerox to build one of the finest industrial laboratories in the world in the fields of organic and disordered solids during the late 1970s, but, perhaps, the most telling aspect of Bardeen's character was his willingness to share the credit with others. For example, he deliberately staled away from the meeting of the American Physical Society in March 1957 at which his theory of superconductivity was first presented, so that the contribution of his young co-researchers would be recognized.
It is clear from the passage that, unlike many really great scientists, Bardeen had the gift of ____.
working effectively with other people and sharing his ideas with them
getting the utmost benefit out of his co-researchers' work
persuading governments to support his research projects
choosing the right problems to work on, that is the ones that could be solved
writing biographical works as well as scientific ones
It is emphasized in the passage that Bardeen's ideas ____.
almost invariably centred on the study of organic solids
received very little recognition in his own life-time
had no direct bearing on industrial practices
frequently had a practical application
were, in the opinion of other scientists, rather stereotyped
As we understand from the passage, Bardeen ____.
showed very little interest in his students and their work
was by nature a modest person who preferred to keep a low profile
was generally regarded as having several short-comings
really disliked attending scientific conferences and giving papers
achieved nothing of any scientific importance prior to the 1970s