e pur si muove

Commencement season is here again at the local university. So it seems fitting, for me at least, to reread Steven Weinberg’s “Four Golden Lessons” for budding scientists, based on a commencement speech he gave at McGill University in 2003.

So what are the four golden lessons? Here’s my summary:

1. Nobody knows everything. Go ahead and get your feet wet anyway. You can do good research without omniscience.
2. Once you have some idea of how to do science, go for the messy areas. Messes are opportunities for you to go in and clean it up with new theories and data.
3. “Wasted time” is part of the creative process needed to do research. Research is the opposite of coursework, where answers are known and the concepts uncontroversial and established. It’s very hard to know beforehand which problems are important and solvable.
4. Know the history of your field, i.e. how science actually worked, and not just philosophical theories about science is supposed to work.

Personally I’m not sure about No. 4, but what do I know. I’m not the one with the Nobel Prize.

Congratulations to those of you graduating from school this year, wherever you are and whatever you are studying. In the words of Maya Angelou, you are all rainbows, now go out and beautify the world with your potential for greatness.

Reference

1. Steven Weinberg, “Scientist: Four golden lessons” Nature 426, 2003, 389. doi:10.1038/426389a

I made one word substitution below for cultural context:

My patience for kabuki wayang is limited; either talk about the actual issue, even if haltingly, or change the subject. Unwarranted escalation quickly becomes a war of spite, in which slights beget slights. Better to call time out, get some clarity, and get some actual work done.

- “Escalation“, Confessions of a Community College Dean, 2007-05-09