Timeless Advice to Young Men and Women in Science from Edward.O.Wilson
Writers, even those who inhabit rarefied heights in literary pantheons are not loathe to share their personal insights about the art of their trade. But it is a bit different in science though. Scientists, especially those who were at the cutting edge of their domains for decades are not known to write especially readable memoirs. The dull fact-only-matters language that the scientific culture demands carries forward to their memoirs too, if they write one, that is.
False modesty — the “peccadillo of scientific memoirist”renders many a good story reticent and dull by leaving out answers to questions like why they did the hard work to achieve their goal and where was the adventure, what was the dream? Alas, these are the questions that adds flesh and blood to the caricature of a scientist and in the end fascinate a high school kid enough to take up science or provide encouragement to an early career scientist to devote rest of his or her working years wholeheartedly to scientific pursuit. In short, there is not much known about what makes a scientist, well, a scientist and how they really feel about their work.
In Letters to a Young Scientist, written by the Pulitzer winning natural scientist Edward.O.Wilson offers a candid an unapologetic view of the forces that shaped his career, the choices he made and why, the courses traversed, the highs and lows of his ‘camp Pushmataha’ (where he spent a month leading a group of raw boy scouts in catching snakes) to Harvard journey.
He draws from five decades of teaching students and guiding young professionals in science to offer a rare insight in to the philosophy of what it takes to succeed in science, all offered in personal tone — an absolute rarity as far as memoirs by scientists go. Although written primarily as a series of letters to young scientists embarking on a career in natural sciences the advice in the book is applicable to anyone who is interested in the way science works. Here are some of my favourite lessons from the book:
Put Passion Ahead of Training! “Feel out in any way you can what you most want to do. Obey that passion as long as it lasts. Feed it with the knowledge the mind needs to grow. Sample other subjects, acquire general education is science, and be smart enough to switch to a greater love if one appears. But don’t just drift through courses in life hoping that the love will come to you. May be it will, but don’t take a chance. As in other big choices in life, there is too much at stake. Decision and hard work based on enduring passion will never fail you.”
Newton dreamed, Darwin dreamed, you dream: So much of good science and perhaps all of great science has its roots in fantasy. “Make it a practice to indulge in fantasy about science. Make it more than just an occasional exercise. Daydream a lot. Make talking to yourself silently a relaxing pastime. Give lectures to yourself about important topics that you need to understand. Talk with others of like mind. By their dreams you shall know them.”
To have a eureka moment requires handwork, and focus.
March away from the sound of the guns- Find a subject you can make your own: “When you are selecting a domain of knowledge in which to conduct original research, it is wise to look for one that is sparsely inhabited.That’s where most advances are likely to occur, as measured by discoveries per investigator per year. Then you have the best chance to become a leader and, as time passes, to gain growing freedom to set your own course.”
You may have heard of the military rule for the summoning of troops to the battlefield: “March to the sound of the guns.” In science the opposite is true: “March away from the sound of the guns. Observe the fray from a distance, and while you’re at it, consider making your own fray.”
The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and only later works like a bookkeeper. “Keep in mind that innovators in both literature and science are basically dreamers and storytellers. In the early stages of the creation of both literature and science, everything in the mind is a story.”
Ideal scientist is not a genius bright enough to see what can be done but not so bright as to become bored too soon:Work accomplished on the frontiers of science defines genius, not just getting there; it is achieved more by entrepreneurship and hard work done by native intelligence. This is so much the case that in most fields most of the time extreme brightness may be a detriment. An ideal scientist is “bright enough to see what can be done but not so bright as to become bored doing it”.
Why should the role of optimum and medium brightness hold? “One reason could be that IQ geniuses have it too easy in their early training. They don’t have to sweat out the science courses they take in college. They find little reward in the necessarily tedious course of data gathering and analysis. To reach and stay at the frontier, a strong work ethic is absolutely essential. There must be an ability to pass long hours in study and research with pressure even though some of the work will inevitably lead to dead ends. Such is the price of admission to the first rank of research scientists.”
Scientists are like treasure hunters of older times in an uncharted land. If you choose to join them, the adventure is the quest, and discoveries are your silver and gold.
Take weekends off for rest and diversion but no vacations. Real scientists do not take vacations :They take field trips or temporary research fellowships and other institutions.
Do not linger too long with any one technology: “Use but don’t love technology. If you need it but find it all forbiddingly difficult, recruit a better prepared collaborator. Put the project first and by any available an honourable means, complete and publish the results.”
You will make mistakes. Try not to make big ones: “Whatever the case, admit them and move on. An error will be forgiven if publicly corrected. An outright retraction of the result will not cause permanent harm if done graciously, and especially with thanks to the scientists who reported the error with evidence and logical reasoning. But never, ever will fraud be forgiven. The penalty is professional death: exile, never again to be trusted.”
If you’re not sure of a result, repeat the work. If you don’t have the time and resources to do so, drop the whole thing will pass it on to someone else. “If your facts are solid, but you are not sure of the conclusion, just say as much. If you do not have the opportunity of resources to repeat and confirm your work, don’t be afraid to use it words denoting timid uncertainty: “apparently,” “seemingly,” “suggests,” “could possibly be,” “raises possibility of” “may well be.” If the result is worthwhile, others will either confirm or disprove what you think you found, and all will share credit. That is not sloppiness. It is just good professional conduct, true to the core of the scientific method.”
If you are successful there will be gentle competitors and ruthless competitors; there will be gossip and some protective secrecy:”You may find yourself in a race with others who have chosen the same track. You’ll worry that someone better equipped and financed might reach the goal before you. When multiple investigators create an important new field simultaneously, they often create a golden period of excited cooperation, but in later stages as different groups follow up on the same discoveries, some amount of rivalry and jealousy is inevitable. That should come as no surprise, business entrepreneurs suffer when competitors beat them to the marketplace. Should we expect scientists to be different?”.
Bestow credit where it is in order and expect the same from others. “Recommending a colleague for awards or other forms of recognition is a relatively uncommon form of altruism when practiced among scientists. Even if it proves difficult, do not shrink from taking that step. On the other hand, granting it to a rival, especially one you do not like and at the risk of your own recognition, would be true nobility. It is not expected of you. Let others make the nomination. Instead just grit your teeth and extend congratulations.”
Cultivate entrepreneurship, the willingness to try something daunting you’ve imagined doing and no one else has thought or dared: “ It could be, for example starting a project in the part of the world neither you nor your colleagues have yet visited; or finding a way to try an already available instrument or technique not yet used in your field; or even more bravely, applying your knowledge to another discipline not exposed to it.”
Perform lot of quick uncontrolled experiments / it is certainly all right and potentially very productive just to mess around: “ Entrepreneurship is enhanced by performing lots of quick, easily performed experiments. Uncontrolled experiments can be very productive. They are performed just to see if you can make something interesting happen.
A strong background in mathematics is an asset, not a pre-requisite for a career in science :Talented youngsters turning away from science just because calculus is terrifying to them or they just don’t get algebra is a “hemorrhage of brain power that we need to stanch”. Wilson has good news for math-phobes . According to him many of the most successful scientists in the world today are mathematically no more than semi literate and that all it requires for a career in science is to ‘understand’ mathematics in the same way you understand a verbal language.
“Most of the stereotypical photographs of scientists studying rows of equations written on blackboards are instructors explaining discoveries already made. Real progress comes from making field notes, at the office amid a litter of doodled paper, in the corridor struggling to explain something to a friend, at lunchtime, eating alone, or in a garden while walking”.
When something new is encountered, the follow up steps will usually require the use of mathematical and statistical methods in order to move it’s analysis forward. If that step proves technically too difficult for the person who made that discovery, a mathematician or a statistician can be added as a collaborator.”
Wilson sums it up in two principles:
“It is far easier for scientists to acquire needed collaboration from mathematicians and statisticians than it is for mathematicians and statisticians to find scientists able to make use of their equations.Therefore the most important step for any young scientist is to find a subject congenial to his or her level of mathematical competence that also interests you deeply, and focus on it”.
“ For every scientist, whether researcher, technologist or teacher, of whatever competence in mathematics, there exists a discipline in science for which that level of mathematical competence is enough to achieve excellence” Very comforting indeed!
A week after reading through the book and 2 days after composing the first draft of this post I have had the luxury of time to reminisce on Wilson’s many pieces of advice. The more I think about each one of them the greater they seems to be applicable to life by itself as much as in a life in science. Perhaps that’s what a real scientist do — connect with life rather than looking down up on the world from an ivory tower. It only reaffirms my own personal value system in science — not to forget that all scientific endeavours must have at it’s heart an uncompromising commitment to the world at large.
