Book Blurbs » Natural Obsessions by Natalie Angier

Deciding To Be A Scientist

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:22:57 +0000

[Quoting Michael Wigler,] “‘Too often, people give up on those things they realize they don’t have a genius for. That’s especially true of very bright people who start out wanting to be scientistis. I think a lot of young people get discouraged when they find that they’re not an Albert Einstein or a Laplace. So they may quit trying, give up on science entirely, rather than using the talent they do have to contribute something to society. They decide it’s easier to do something like go into business, where at least they’ll be able to earn a lot of money…The real reason I left math was that I thought math emphasized some of my most negative qualities–my tendency toward self-involvement and alienation. Math has very little social relevance. I suppose in the long run it’s useful to society, but in the short run math is more autistic than poetry. And I decided in college that I wanted to do something with my life that might be socially useful.’”

What Is It Like to Be a Post-Doc?

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:57:16 +0000

“A postdoctoral fellowship is the most critical and intense period of a scientist’s career. It’s the professional equivalent of the SAT’s: it doesn’t last long, but the results have unnerving resonance. ‘A postdoc can afford to blow the first year or eighteen months of his or her fellowship,’ said [Robert Weinberg]. ‘It’s expected that one will spend a certain amount of time experimenting with different ideas, and even floundering. But after that, a hiring committee at a university may begin to winder, Does this person have sound scientific judgment? Does this person know when a problem is intractable, and can this person tell when it’s time to move on? Good judgment is as important to a scientist’s success as is tenacity or intuition.

“From week to week, month to month, postdocs must assess their progress and weigh the riskiness of a project against its potential payoff. This is the post’s conundrum. Young researchers must publish. In science, publish or perish is not a cliche; it’s book and word. A small paper on a small result is better than no paper on a cosmic undertaking.” [emphasis added] (p. 220)

Motiviation to Tackle Difficult Science Experiment

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:51:10 +0000

“‘I don’t care about papers, and I don’t care about making a name for myself,’ [Snezna Rogelj] continued. ‘That’s not important. What’s important is that I prove to myself that I can do this.’ She jabbed her pipette again. ‘I have to prove to myself that I’m a scientist, that I can design a difficult experiment and just do it. I have this little voice in my head, telling me I can’t do it, and I have to shut that voice up.’” (pp. 210-211)

What Makes a Great Scientist

admin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:15:23 +0000

“Surprise is what scientists live for, and the ability to capitalize on moments of surprise, plus the gift, amounting to something rather like good taste, of distinguishing an important surprise from a trivial one, are the marks of a good investigator. The very best ones revel in surprise, dance in the presence of astonishment. Others, less gifted, cannot endure bewilderment and find other ways to make a living.” (p. xiv, Forward by Lewis Thomas, MD)