8 ms·

E.O. Wilson on Becoming a Great Scientist

89 points by MrXOR 6y ago

hprotagonist 6y ago
Ramon y Cajal's "advice to a young investigator" is still quite good as well: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advice-young-investigator https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advice-young-investigator
- jhbadger 6y ago
  Although he suggests that the best thing a female scientist can do is be a good helper to her husband! He was a man of his times, to be sure.
  - vixen99 6y ago
    Yes he was. 'Man of his times' is a good phrase. I wonder how the behaviour of moralizers of today who castigate those in the past, often with little or no appreciation of the mores of their period, will be viewed in a couple of hundred years time.
andrewnc 6y ago
This is fascinating because it never mentions the role of publishing in the field of science. There is a huge pressure to "publish or perish" which seems at odds with much of the advice given here.
- ggm 6y ago
  Because EO Wilson had the great fortune to be borne into a world less focussed on peer review citation index scores and annual grant applications. Other people did ranking and grants were just handled differently.
- bra-ket 6y ago
  one can always follow Einstein' path, get a job and doodle your equations in your spare time.
- morlockabove 6y ago
  It's from a time when the university system worked better. Now, to be a Real Scientist, you have to hire someone to churn out the meaningless papers for you or not be an academic- just be independently wealthy and stick your results on your website.
- fuzzfactor 6y ago
  Pursuing greatness without diverting energy to eminence gets more science done.
supernova87a 6y ago
Well, it is good advice, but you also have to keep in mind that it has become a lot more competitive since the time that E.O. Wilson became a Harvard professor. He grew up in the age of an expanding faculty, not competing with the entire world for a professorship, and let's just say... a world interested in the lives of ants. Not to cast any doubt whatsoever on his impressive scholarship and advances for the public good of science at all, but the environment he succeeded in is not the same world that today's young professors face. You should do all the things he suggests. But don't expect that that alone will lead to greatness without a lot of luck too.
- whatshisface 6y ago
  Well, it is titled "on becoming a great scientist," not "on playing the academic system for adequate remuneration and a tenure track position." Great scientists are the same kinds of people and they do the same kinds of things, it's just now becoming a great scientist is not a path to feeding a family.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - konjin 6y ago
    What's the difference between a math phd and a large pizza? A large pizza feeds a family of four^H^H^H^H two. I need to make adjustments for pizza inflation too, even though it still beats out the phd. How depressing.
- ISL 6y ago
  Agreed that at least some luck (and the avoidance of bad luck) is essential for a modern academic career. As I recall -- Not quite explicit in Letters from a Young Scientist: He worked really hard and is prolific. For those lucky-enough to hit personal resonance with a field of study, what looks like others to be really hard work is enabled by the joy of great passion. It is a great book -- definitely worth a read.
- geoalchimista 6y ago
sradman 6y ago
Letters to a Young Scientist [1] was written in 2014. E. O. Wilson [2] has written five more books since then. Deborah Gordon’s [3] work on red harvester ants may also be of interest to the HN community: > In 2012, she found that the foraging behavior of red harvester ants matches the TCP congestion control algorithm. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Young_Scientist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Young_Scientist [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_M._Gordon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_M._Gordon
drewcoo 6y ago
This is about old pre-plague book "Letters to a Young Scientist," article from 2015.
KuriousCat 6y ago
Hamming's lectures are great in highlighting the challenges young scientists face and the importance of political acuity
CommieDetector 6y ago
Rule 1 : NEVER question the leftist narrative.
code_scrapping 6y ago
I love when the comment section gives me more good reading material than the original post. Kudos to the community!
ivan_ah 6y ago
> If your level of mathematical competence is low, plan on raising it, [...] This makes me think for how many people basic math competence remains an obstacle for getting into science. Shameless plug for my new book about "basic math competence" for adults that think they "suck at math." See extended preview here: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_previe... The material is similar to the more advanced books on mechanics, calculus, and linear algebra, but contains ONLY the essential material from high school math that is the most practical and useful for day-to-day "quantitative analysis."
- alexpetralia 6y ago
  This looks really promising. I love the idea of a condensed math book (hopefully a refresher) on all the things I ought to know.
  - ivan_ah 6y ago
    Yes, it has been a lot of fun working on these "basics" and double the fun since I was also translating the material to French, which forced me to really dig deeper and explain things properly[1]. I also worked on the concept maps and made them available as a standalone free file, in case that might be of interest to you, see [2]. Last but not least, I highly recommend learning SymPy[3] in parallel with your math review—it's a computer algebra system whose API closely mirrors the math verbs (e.g. expand, factor, simplify, etc), so it makes for great practice tool. [1] https://minireference.com/blog/multilingual-authoring-for-the-win/ https://minireference.com/blog/multilingual-authoring-for-th... [2] https://minireference.com/static/conceptmaps/math_concepts.pdf https://minireference.com/static/conceptmaps/math_concepts.p... [3a] https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_preview.pdf#page=77 https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_previe... [3b] https://minireference.com/static/tutorials/sympy_tutorial.pdf https://minireference.com/static/tutorials/sympy_tutorial.pd... (same as above but in IEEE journal format)
    - alexpetralia 6y ago
      Wonderful, thanks! And I see you're also a McGill grad. Even better!
ArtWomb 6y ago
>>> need for extreme focus over a long period The budding chorus of "fund the researcher, not the project" is finding solutions. UBI stipends and crowdfunding are a far cry from MacArthur Genius Grants for All (~$500k/anum). But the success of Fold.it, a citizen science protein synthesis game, demonstrates viable alternatives. The competitive landscape now isn't in the form of a Leibniz–Newton rivalry between humans. It's human+AI vs human. DeepMind with it's unlimited budget and GPU cluster can solve protein folding in less time than a theorist penning their grant application!

89 points by MrXOR 6y ago

Ramon y Cajal's "advice to a young investigator" is still quite good as well: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advice-young-investigator https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advice-young-investigator

jhbadger 6y ago
Although he suggests that the best thing a female scientist can do is be a good helper to her husband! He was a man of his times, to be sure.
- vixen99 6y ago
  Yes he was. 'Man of his times' is a good phrase. I wonder how the behaviour of moralizers of today who castigate those in the past, often with little or no appreciation of the mores of their period, will be viewed in a couple of hundred years time.

andrewnc 6y ago

This is fascinating because it never mentions the role of publishing in the field of science. There is a huge pressure to "publish or perish" which seems at odds with much of the advice given here.

ggm 6y ago
Because EO Wilson had the great fortune to be borne into a world less focussed on peer review citation index scores and annual grant applications. Other people did ranking and grants were just handled differently.
bra-ket 6y ago
one can always follow Einstein' path, get a job and doodle your equations in your spare time.
morlockabove 6y ago
It's from a time when the university system worked better. Now, to be a Real Scientist, you have to hire someone to churn out the meaningless papers for you or not be an academic- just be independently wealthy and stick your results on your website.
fuzzfactor 6y ago
Pursuing greatness without diverting energy to eminence gets more science done.

supernova87a 6y ago

Well, it is good advice, but you also have to keep in mind that it has become a lot more competitive since the time that E.O. Wilson became a Harvard professor. He grew up in the age of an expanding faculty, not competing with the entire world for a professorship, and let's just say... a world interested in the lives of ants. Not to cast any doubt whatsoever on his impressive scholarship and advances for the public good of science at all, but the environment he succeeded in is not the same world that today's young professors face. You should do all the things he suggests. But don't expect that that alone will lead to greatness without a lot of luck too.

whatshisface 6y ago
Well, it is titled "on becoming a great scientist," not "on playing the academic system for adequate remuneration and a tenure track position." Great scientists are the same kinds of people and they do the same kinds of things, it's just now becoming a great scientist is not a path to feeding a family.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- konjin 6y ago
  What's the difference between a math phd and a large pizza? A large pizza feeds a family of four^H^H^H^H two. I need to make adjustments for pizza inflation too, even though it still beats out the phd. How depressing.
ISL 6y ago
Agreed that at least some luck (and the avoidance of bad luck) is essential for a modern academic career. As I recall -- Not quite explicit in Letters from a Young Scientist: He worked really hard and is prolific. For those lucky-enough to hit personal resonance with a field of study, what looks like others to be really hard work is enabled by the joy of great passion. It is a great book -- definitely worth a read.
geoalchimista 6y ago

sradman 6y ago

Letters to a Young Scientist [1] was written in 2014. E. O. Wilson [2] has written five more books since then. Deborah Gordon’s [3] work on red harvester ants may also be of interest to the HN community: > In 2012, she found that the foraging behavior of red harvester ants matches the TCP congestion control algorithm. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Young_Scientist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Young_Scientist [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_M._Gordon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_M._Gordon

drewcoo 6y ago

This is about old pre-plague book "Letters to a Young Scientist," article from 2015.

KuriousCat 6y ago

Hamming's lectures are great in highlighting the challenges young scientists face and the importance of political acuity

CommieDetector 6y ago

Rule 1 : NEVER question the leftist narrative.

code_scrapping 6y ago

I love when the comment section gives me more good reading material than the original post. Kudos to the community!

ivan_ah 6y ago

> If your level of mathematical competence is low, plan on raising it, [...] This makes me think for how many people basic math competence remains an obstacle for getting into science. Shameless plug for my new book about "basic math competence" for adults that think they "suck at math." See extended preview here: https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_preview.pdf https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_previe... The material is similar to the more advanced books on mechanics, calculus, and linear algebra, but contains ONLY the essential material from high school math that is the most practical and useful for day-to-day "quantitative analysis."

alexpetralia 6y ago
This looks really promising. I love the idea of a condensed math book (hopefully a refresher) on all the things I ought to know.
- ivan_ah 6y ago
  Yes, it has been a lot of fun working on these "basics" and double the fun since I was also translating the material to French, which forced me to really dig deeper and explain things properly[1]. I also worked on the concept maps and made them available as a standalone free file, in case that might be of interest to you, see [2]. Last but not least, I highly recommend learning SymPy[3] in parallel with your math review—it's a computer algebra system whose API closely mirrors the math verbs (e.g. expand, factor, simplify, etc), so it makes for great practice tool. [1] https://minireference.com/blog/multilingual-authoring-for-the-win/ https://minireference.com/blog/multilingual-authoring-for-th... [2] https://minireference.com/static/conceptmaps/math_concepts.pdf https://minireference.com/static/conceptmaps/math_concepts.p... [3a] https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_preview.pdf#page=77 https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSmath_v5_previe... [3b] https://minireference.com/static/tutorials/sympy_tutorial.pdf https://minireference.com/static/tutorials/sympy_tutorial.pd... (same as above but in IEEE journal format)
  - alexpetralia 6y ago
    Wonderful, thanks! And I see you're also a McGill grad. Even better!

ArtWomb 6y ago

>>> need for extreme focus over a long period The budding chorus of "fund the researcher, not the project" is finding solutions. UBI stipends and crowdfunding are a far cry from MacArthur Genius Grants for All (~$500k/anum). But the success of Fold.it, a citizen science protein synthesis game, demonstrates viable alternatives. The competitive landscape now isn't in the form of a Leibniz–Newton rivalry between humans. It's human+AI vs human. DeepMind with it's unlimited budget and GPU cluster can solve protein folding in less time than a theorist penning their grant application!