Advice to young scientists
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0:02 - 0:04What I'm going to do is to just give a few notes,
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0:04 - 0:08and this is from a book I'm preparing called
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0:08 - 0:11"Letters to a Young Scientist."
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0:11 - 0:13I'd thought it'd be appropriate to
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0:13 - 0:18present it, on the basis that I have had extensive experience
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0:18 - 0:21in teaching, counseling scientists across a broad array of fields.
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0:21 - 0:27And you might like to hear some of the principles that I've developed in doing
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0:27 - 0:29that teaching and counseling.
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0:29 - 0:31So let me begin by urging you,
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0:31 - 0:34particularly you on the youngsters' side,
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0:34 - 0:36on this path you've chosen,
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0:36 - 0:38to go as far as you can.
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0:38 - 0:41The world needs you, badly.
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0:41 - 0:46Humanity is now fully into the techno-scientific age.
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0:46 - 0:48There is going to be no turning back.
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0:48 - 0:53Although varying among disciplines -- say, astrophysics,
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0:53 - 0:57molecular genetics, the immunology, the microbiology, the public
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0:57 - 1:03health, to the new area of the human body as a symbiont,
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1:03 - 1:06to public health, environmental science.
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1:06 - 1:09Knowledge in medical science and science overall
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1:09 - 1:12is doubling every 15 to 20 years.
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1:12 - 1:15Technology is increasing at a comparable rate.
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1:15 - 1:18Between them, the two already pervade,
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1:18 - 1:21as most of you here seated realize,
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1:21 - 1:23every dimension of human life.
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1:23 - 1:29So swift is the velocity of the techno-scientific revolution,
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1:29 - 1:33so startling in its countless twists and turns, that no one can predict
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1:33 - 1:38its outcome even a decade from the present moment.
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1:38 - 1:39There will come a time, of course,
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1:39 - 1:43when the exponential growth of discovery and knowledge,
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1:43 - 1:45which actually began in the 1600s,
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1:45 - 1:48has to peak and level off,
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1:48 - 1:49but that's not going to matter to you.
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1:49 - 1:51The revolution is going to continue
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1:51 - 1:54for at least several more decades.
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1:54 - 1:55It'll render the human condition
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1:55 - 1:58radically different from what it is today.
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1:58 - 2:04Traditional fields of study are going to continue to grow
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2:04 - 2:09and in so doing, inevitably they will meet and create new disciplines.
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2:09 - 2:13In time, all of science will come to be
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2:13 - 2:18a continuum of description, an explanation of networks, of principles and laws.
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2:18 - 2:21That's why you need not just be training
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2:21 - 2:26in one specialty, but also acquire breadth in other fields,
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2:26 - 2:29related to and even distant from your own initial choice.
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2:29 - 2:33Keep your eyes lifted and your head turning.
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2:33 - 2:37The search for knowledge is in our genes.
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2:37 - 2:40It was put there by our distant ancestors
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2:40 - 2:42who spread across the world,
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2:42 - 2:43and it's never going to be quenched.
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2:43 - 2:47To understand and use it sanely,
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2:47 - 2:50as a part of the civilization yet to evolve
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2:50 - 2:56requires a vastly larger population of scientifically trained people like you.
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2:56 - 3:00In education, medicine, law, diplomacy,
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3:00 - 3:05government, business and the media that exist today.
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3:05 - 3:10Our political leaders need at least a modest degree of scientific
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3:10 - 3:13literacy, which most badly lack today --
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3:13 - 3:14no applause, please.
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3:14 - 3:17It will be better for all
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3:17 - 3:21if they prepare before entering office rather than learning on the job.
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3:21 - 3:25Therefore you will do well to act on the side,
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3:25 - 3:27no matter how far into the laboratory
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3:27 - 3:31you may go, to serve as teachers
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3:31 - 3:33during the span of your career.
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3:33 - 3:35I'll now proceed quickly,
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3:35 - 3:38and before else, to a subject that is both a vital asset
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3:38 - 3:41and a potential barrier to a scientific career.
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3:41 - 3:45If you are a bit short in mathematical skills,
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3:45 - 3:46don't worry.
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3:46 - 3:49Many of the most successful scientists
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3:49 - 3:53at work today are mathematically semi-literate.
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3:53 - 3:55A metaphor will serve here:
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3:55 - 4:01Where elite mathematicians and statisticians
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4:01 - 4:06and theorists often serve as architects in the expanding realm
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4:06 - 4:10of science, the remaining large majority of
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4:10 - 4:15basic applied scientists, including a large portion of those who could be
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4:15 - 4:20said to be of the first rank, are the ones who map the terrain, they scout
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4:20 - 4:23the frontiers, they cut the pathways,
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4:23 - 4:26they raise the buildings along the way.
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4:26 - 4:29Some may have considered me foolhardy,
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4:29 - 4:33but it's been my habit to brush aside the fear of mathematics
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4:33 - 4:35when talking to candidate scientists.
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4:35 - 4:38During 41 years of teaching biology at Harvard,
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4:38 - 4:43I watched sadly as bright students turned away
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4:43 - 4:45from the possibility of a scientific career
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4:45 - 4:49or even from taking non-required courses in science
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4:49 - 4:51because they were afraid of failure.
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4:51 - 4:54These math-phobes deprive science and medicine
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4:54 - 4:58of immeasurable amounts of badly needed talent.
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4:58 - 5:02Here's how to relax your anxieties, if you have them:
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5:02 - 5:04Understand that mathematics is a language
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5:04 - 5:08ruled like other verbal languages,
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5:08 - 5:11or like verbal language generally, by its own grammar
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5:11 - 5:13and system of logic.
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5:13 - 5:16Any person with average quantitative intelligence
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5:16 - 5:19who learns to read and write mathematics
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5:19 - 5:26at an elementary level will, as in verbal language, have little difficulty
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5:26 - 5:28picking up most of the fundamentals
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5:28 - 5:33if they choose to master the mathspeak of most disciplines of science.
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5:33 - 5:37The longer you wait to become at least semi-literate
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5:37 - 5:43the harder the language of mathematics will be to master, just as again in any verbal
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5:43 - 5:46language, but it can be done at any age.
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5:46 - 5:48I speak as an authority
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5:48 - 5:51on that subject, because I'm an extreme case.
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5:51 - 5:55I didn't take algebra until my freshman year
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5:55 - 5:57at the University of Alabama.
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5:57 - 5:59They didn't teach it before then.
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5:59 - 6:04I finally got around to calculus as a 32-year-old tenured professor at Harvard,
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6:04 - 6:09where I sat uncomfortably in classes with undergraduate students,
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6:09 - 6:11little more than half my age.
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6:11 - 6:13A couple of them were students
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6:13 - 6:16in a course I was giving on evolutionary biology.
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6:16 - 6:21I swallowed my pride, and I learned calculus.
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6:21 - 6:24I found out that in science and all its applications,
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6:24 - 6:28what is crucial is not that technical ability,
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6:28 - 6:32but it is imagination in all of its applications.
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6:32 - 6:36The ability to form concepts with images of entities and processes
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6:36 - 6:39pictured by intuition.
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6:39 - 6:43I found out that advances in science rarely come upstream
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6:43 - 6:46from an ability to stand at a blackboard
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6:46 - 6:49and conjure images from unfolding mathematical propositions
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6:49 - 6:51and equations.
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6:51 - 6:57They are instead the products of downstream imagination leading to hard work,
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6:57 - 7:01during which mathematical reasoning may or may not prove to be relevant.
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7:01 - 7:06Ideas emerge when a part of the real or imagined world is studied
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7:06 - 7:08for its own sake.
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7:08 - 7:13Of foremost importance is a thorough, well-organized knowledge
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7:13 - 7:20of all that is known of the relevant entities and processes that might be involved in that domain
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7:20 - 7:22you propose to enter.
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7:22 - 7:24When something new is discovered,
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7:24 - 7:29it's logical then that one of the follow-up steps is
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7:29 - 7:33to find the mathematical and statistical methods to move its analysis forward.
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7:33 - 7:35If that step proves too difficult for
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7:35 - 7:39the person or team that made the discovery,
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7:39 - 7:45a mathematician can then be added by them
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7:45 - 7:47as a collaborator.
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7:47 - 7:49Consider the following principle,
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7:49 - 7:54which I will modestly call Wilson's Principle Number One:
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7:54 - 7:59It is far easier for scientists
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7:59 - 8:03including medical researchers, to require needed collaboration
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8:03 - 8:06in mathematics and statistics
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8:06 - 8:09than it is for mathematicians and statisticians
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8:09 - 8:13to find scientists able to make use of their equations.
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8:13 - 8:17It is important in choosing the direction to take in science
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8:17 - 8:23to find the subject at your level of competence that interests you deeply,
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8:23 - 8:25and focus on that.
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8:25 - 8:29Keep in mind, then, Wilson's Second Principle:
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8:29 - 8:34For every scientist, whether researcher, technician,
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8:34 - 8:37teacher, manager or businessman,
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8:37 - 8:41working at any level of mathematical competence,
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8:41 - 8:45there exists a discipline in science or medicine
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8:45 - 8:48for which that level is enough to achieve excellence.
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8:48 - 8:51Now I'm going to offer quickly
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8:51 - 8:53several more principles that will be useful
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8:53 - 8:56in organizing your education and career,
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8:56 - 9:01or if you're teaching, how you might
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9:01 - 9:05enhance your own teaching and counseling of young scientists.
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9:05 - 9:09In selecting a subject in which to conduct original research,
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9:09 - 9:12or to develop world-class expertise,
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9:12 - 9:18take a part of the chosen discipline that is sparsely inhabited.
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9:18 - 9:22Judge opportunity by how few other students and researchers
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9:22 - 9:24are on hand.
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9:24 - 9:28This is not to de-emphasize the essential requirement
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9:28 - 9:31of broad training, or the value of apprenticing yourself
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9:31 - 9:36in ongoing research to programs of high quality.
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9:36 - 9:40It is important also to acquire older mentors within these successful
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9:40 - 9:44programs, and to make friends and colleagues of your age
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9:44 - 9:46for mutual support.
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9:46 - 9:49But through it all, look for a way to break out,
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9:49 - 9:53to find a field and subject not yet popular.
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9:53 - 9:56We have seen this demonstrated already in the talks preceding mine.
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9:56 - 10:02There is the quickest way advances are likely to occur,
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10:02 - 10:05as measured in discoveries per investigator per year.
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10:05 - 10:07You may have heard the
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10:07 - 10:11military dictum for the gathering of armies:
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10:11 - 10:13March to the sound of the guns.
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10:13 - 10:20In science, the exact opposite is the case: March away from the sound of the guns.
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10:20 - 10:22So Wilson's Principle Number Three:
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10:22 - 10:26March away from the sound of the guns.
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10:26 - 10:28Observe from a distance,
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10:28 - 10:30but do not join the fray.
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10:30 - 10:32Make a fray of your own.
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10:32 - 10:36Once you have settled on a specialty,
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10:36 - 10:42and the profession you can love, and you've secured opportunity,
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10:42 - 10:47your potential to succeed will be greatly enhanced if you study it
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10:47 - 10:50enough to become an expert.
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10:50 - 10:53There are thousands of professionally delimited
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10:53 - 10:55subjects sprinkled through physics and chemistry
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10:55 - 10:57to biology and medicine.
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10:57 - 11:00And on then into the social sciences,
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11:00 - 11:03where it is possible in short time to acquire
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11:03 - 11:06the status of an authority.
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11:06 - 11:10When the subject is still very thinly populated,
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11:10 - 11:12you can with diligence and hard work become
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11:12 - 11:14the world authority.
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11:14 - 11:18The world needs this kind of expertise,
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11:18 - 11:20and it rewards the kind of people
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11:20 - 11:23willing to acquire it.
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11:23 - 11:27The existing information and what you self-discover
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11:27 - 11:31may at first seem skimpy and difficult to connect
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11:31 - 11:33to other bodies of knowledge.
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11:33 - 11:35Well, if that's the case,
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11:35 - 11:39good. Why hard instead of easy?
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11:39 - 11:44The answer deserves to be stated as Principle Number Four.
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11:44 - 11:48In the attempt to make scientific discoveries,
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11:48 - 11:50every problem is an opportunity,
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11:50 - 11:51and the more difficult the problem,
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11:51 - 11:54the greater will be the importance of its solution.
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11:54 - 11:58Now this brings me to a basic categorization
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11:58 - 12:01in the way scientific discoveries are made.
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12:01 - 12:04Scientists, pure mathematicians among them,
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12:04 - 12:07follow one or the other of two pathways:
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12:07 - 12:09First through early discoveries,
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12:09 - 12:11a problem is identified
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12:11 - 12:13and a solution is sought.
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12:13 - 12:16The problem may be relatively small;
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12:16 - 12:21for example, where exactly in a cruise ship does the norovirus begin to spread?
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12:21 - 12:27Or larger, what's the role of dark matter in the expansion of the universe?
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12:27 - 12:32As the answer is sought, other phenomena are typically discovered
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12:32 - 12:33and other questions are asked.
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12:33 - 12:36This first of the two strategies is like a hunter,
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12:36 - 12:40exploring a forest in search of a particular quarry,
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12:40 - 12:43who finds other quarries along the way.
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12:43 - 12:46The second strategy of research
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12:46 - 12:48is to study a subject broadly
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12:48 - 12:53searching for unknown phenomena or patterns of known phenomena
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12:53 - 12:57like a hunter in what we call "the naturalist's trance,"
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12:57 - 13:00the researcher of mind is open to anything interesting,
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13:00 - 13:02any quarry worth taking.
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13:02 - 13:04The search is not for the solution of the problem,
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13:04 - 13:07but for problems themselves worth solving.
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13:07 - 13:09The two strategies of research,
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13:09 - 13:12original research, can be stated as follows,
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13:12 - 13:17in the final principle I'm going to offer you:
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13:17 - 13:21For every problem in a given discipline of science,
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13:21 - 13:24there exists a species or entity or phenomenon
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13:24 - 13:26ideal for its solution.
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13:26 - 13:32And conversely, for every species or other entity
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13:32 - 13:35or phenomenon, there exist important problems
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13:35 - 13:42for the solution of which, those particular objects of research are ideally suited.
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13:42 - 13:44Find out what they are.
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13:44 - 13:47You'll find your own way to discover,
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13:47 - 13:50to learn, to teach.
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13:50 - 13:53The decades ahead will see dramatic advances
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13:53 - 13:58in disease prevention, general health, the quality of life.
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13:58 - 14:04All of humanity depends on the knowledge and practice of the medicine and the science
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14:04 - 14:05behind it you will master.
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14:05 - 14:09You have chosen a calling that will come in steps
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14:09 - 14:14to give you satisfaction, at its conclusion, of a life well lived.
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14:14 - 14:17And I thank you for having me here tonight.
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14:17 - 14:22(Applause)
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14:22 - 14:23Oh, thank you.
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14:23 - 14:30Thank you very much.
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14:30 - 14:35I salute you.
- Title:
- Advice to young scientists
- Speaker:
- E.O. Wilson
- Description:
-
“The world needs you, badly,” begins celebrated biologist E.O. Wilson in his letter to a young scientist. Previewing his upcoming book, he gives advice collected from a lifetime of experience -- reminding us that wonder and creativity are the center of the scientific life. (Filmed at TEDMED.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:56
Jenny Zurawell edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jenny Zurawell approved English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jenny Zurawell accepted English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jenny Zurawell edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jenny Zurawell edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jaye Samuels edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jaye Samuels edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist | ||
Jaye Samuels edited English subtitles for Advice to a young scientist |