Parting thoughts: Nikola Tesla was the creator/inventor of Alternating Current, something that is essential for evryday living now, yet his discovery was shunned and belittled by the grandmaster Edison, and as a result Tesla received no recognition for his work till he was alive.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Scientists and us: How different are we?
I have always wondered what are the key elements that differentiate the great scientists from us mediocre humans. Some of the greatest minds of the past generations have very similar stories of a simple childhood, showing no promise in their early years. Einstein was called stupid by his teachers and expelled from school for his consistently low performance. Edison lacked all theoretical knowledge of his own field of physics and yet is considered the greatest inventor of all times. While going through Einstein: The life and times by Ronald Clarke I came to realize that history tends to exaggerate if not referred to the correct sources. Einstein showed an aptitude for maths even as a primary school kid. Just to provide an amazement factor to his story this part is always neglected when his story is told. His lack of interest was only for the classical subjects of latin and social studies. The same story is true for Edison, who was dabbling with telegraph systems as a young student. This just shows that these great thinkers and inventors aren't born to be great. It is a process that involves a lot of hard-work and dedication. So that brings me back to my initial question, how are these people different, in essence they are not different at all, it is just the fact that they are willing to put in the extra effort for the field of science that they have grown to love over the years that their names show up in the annals of scientific history.
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I believe the bigger issue at hand is how one chooses to define intelligence. It seems that the scientist who is able to accurately capture a phenomenon, predict it, and control it is the one who gets the credit for a breakthrough. However, almost all of these breakthroughs were achieved through a collective effort. For instance, although Einstein may have invented the theory of relativity, he did not invent the calculus that he used to back it up. He thrived off of the trial, error, and hard work of other scientists. In the bigger scheme of things, it is highly unlikely that a single person can advance with a scientific breakthrough without exploiting and expounding on other scientists' research. Ultimately, they may not be better than us - in the sense that they are not born with an innate scientific acumen. They earn their fame by pooling all of the seemingly random knowledge until they find a breakthrough, one that can benefit society on a grand scale. Another thing to point out is that a person's work is usually worth more after their demise - the classic artist example.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Everyone is born the same, except for sporadic genetic mutations which may affect the physical or mental dispositions of the individual. Even these mutations don't affect your intelligence because you still have to learn things. You aren't born with them.
ReplyDeleteWhat separates a "genius" from others is their devotion to whatever studies they decide to pursue.
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ReplyDeleteSince taking this class my view of science has changed. Originally I thought of science as nerdy people in white lab coats mixing colored liquids and declaring they have made a revolutionary discovery. Yet, as I read more and more of the literary pieces from this class I am starting to realize that science isn’t really about how much you already know more than it is about the adventure of learning. In the book “The Lost World” the scientists were pretty smart people but if you really read into it they really act like a little kid when you give them a complex toy like a transformer. They push and pull trying to disassemble it and see how it works and from their observations they connect the dots. This analogy is true to almost everything else in life. We poke and prod things in our daily life, sampling and testing and collecting the data and forming conclusions. So I guess what really sets scientists apart from others is exactly nothing, expect a title and possibly being better at connecting the dots and expressing their ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kevin that my idea of science has changed. Where before I thought of science as the typical Chemistry, Biology, etc., now I look at the bigger picture. TH Huxley said it best in "We are All Scientists", saying that science is really just a process of thinking. It includes any rational thought, and so anyone who thinks rationally can be considered a scientist.
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