| ¡¡¡¡Attitude toward what good science is
and the strategy of scientific research affect strongly
the long-term outcome (in terms of the quality (not quantity)
of research) of individual scientist and even of a scientific
institution. We can say fairly that quantity of research
(i.e., the number of publications or of patents) is largely
controlled by money (funding), but the quality of research
(measured by the real progress in science) is not simply
a linear function of input money; The quality of research
is more affected by intellectual or human factors. Below
we cite some interesting opinions and essays on science
philosophy, which address these subtle but important issues.
To individual scientific workers:¡¡ One
must aim to understand everything. --- A.B. Migdal
To scientific institution or research group:
The research process cannot be
designed to generate serendipity, but it can be kept
open and flexible, ready to respond to the lightening,
wherever it may strike. (Opinion:
Serendipity, John Ziman, Phys. Bull. 32(1981))
Miscellaneous
1. What
cannot be said in science (Mott T. Greene,
Nature, vol.388, 619 (1997))
--- on the importance of broad view in scientific research
2. William Sams, ¡°Limitations of Science¡±, Philosopher
Scientist, p850, 1976
Above the edifices and foundation
of established science, there ever hovers a dust cloud
of unexplained results, which it most often proves inconvenient,
and is left behind by the practitioners to move on to
observations which are in accord with the dogmas¡
3. G.B. Shaw
¡ the danger is greatest when
you propose a theory ¡ and then fall in love with it¡
4. Einstein
Make things as simple as possible,
but not simpler.
5.A.B. Migdal, "On the psychology of scientific
creativity", Contemporary Physics,121-48,1979
¡¡±The driving force behind scientific
creativity should not be the desire to bring about a
scientific revolution; nor should all one¡¯s efforts
be directed towards achieving success, but one should
be motivated by a love of knowledge, a capacity to wonder
at and delight in each small success and, above all,
a feeling for the beauty of science. It is important
to develop impeccable conscientiousness and to learn
to reduce the most complex questions to extreme simplicity
and clarity; to find a way out of many psychological
contradictions; to be guided by intuition but not to
put one¡¯s trust in it; to be conscious of all the difficulties,
but to be able temporarily to divert one¡¯s attention
from them; to believe in a result but at the same time
to search patiently for a way to refute it; to find
one¡¯s own style of working but to be able to change
it with experience and with each new major discovery:
in brief one must aim to understand everything.¡±
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