Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Get inspired by science itself, not scientists!

Q: Our teacher told us to read the stories of famous scientists. Do we get inspired by reading scientists' stories?

Krishna:

Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative and great. This is really important in anybody's life.

Therefore, I want to be very frank and unbiased with regard to this advice and tell you the truth.

I read several stories of famous scientists. Here famous is not equal to great or good.

I was asked to write about them too. But I refuse to write about personal stories of scientists. I will tell you why in the end.

Scientists are human beings. They will have their own frailties even though they may be very good at the subject.

But being famous doesn't make their stories inspirational. When I read some stories of very famous scientists I regretted reading them! Because that made me think very bad about them! All my respect for them disappeared into thin air.

Because these stories contained dirty things like Ill treating wives, disregarding scientific methods, jealousies, disrespecting and not giving credit to their colleagues, strange beliefs, and all that you despise in the scientific world.

Of course there are one or two very great stories too that I felt are highly inspirational.

But I think all these stories are based on human perceptions - either about themselves in autobiographies or about the scientists in biographies.

You don't even know whether some of the depictions of the characters are correct or not because there is no way you can verify about the people who are dead and gone long back - about individuals who existed even before you were even born!

Some writers give positive spins, some negative to these stories. How do you differentiate between right and wrong ones?

Recently I was felicitated by several people. During these falicitations, everybody praised me and said everything about me was inspirational.

So I asked them why don't you get inspired then? How many people will get inspired by my story, follow it and become like me? Almost none or just one or two out of thousands and lakhs.

And being inspired by others' stories does not mean that you should duplicate these stories. Your work should show a definite difference, facets of your own personality and creativity.

You feel inspired when you read stories of people who overcame great difficulties and succeeded despite all odds. Undoubtedly, they moved me a lot.

But each story is different, each person's circumstances will be different. You should have your own determination to overcome your own difficulties and the situation you are in and succeed. That should come from within.

So I tell people to get inspired by science, not individuals that do it. Science is more important than any individual.

I don't support the idea of giving more importance to individuals than science.

Science is widely regarded as a fundamental, cumulative, and objective endeavour that drives progress, improves lives through innovation, and exists independently of any single individual. While individuals—even brilliant ones—are transitory, the knowledge, methods, and truths uncovered by science are enduring and transcend personal limitations, biases, and lifespans.

Science exists in every particle of this universe. Whether individuals who study it exist or not doesn't matter. This universe runs on scientific principles. Understanding them will help you utilise this knowledge and improve your life and those of others around you.

Get inspired by science itself, not scientists!

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