SCI-ART LAB

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

Krishna: If you have to stimulate your mind over and over again, you cannot be a good scientist!

A scientific mind breathes, eats, sleeps, drinks, reads, writes, thinks and lives science all the time.

Go into science if you are curious and have passion for it. If not, find something else!: This is the advice given by many scientists!

Successful scientists say four things are responsible for progress in science (1):
1. Making money/ earning high salary and reaching the highest post in your institution are not success. Success is persisting with your effort despite several failures without losing enthusiasm. If you still love to do today what you have been doing for the past forty years, you are doing things right. They say in the ability to put in time the same way you did on the first day you entered your lab on your last day too there is the real secret of success. You should be prepared to outwork everyone. Competing with lazy people or escapists is a bad way of doing things. Competing with the best and those who don't quit no matter what the circumstances are is the secret of success.
2. One has to try to be productive, not just busy. Going for quality work, not just for any work that produce ordinary papers is another secret.
3. One's goal should be solving problems and helping people. Having good fundamental questions to guide research not the other way round is extremely important.
4. Developing broader vision, not tunnel vision, is another secret. Trying to connect your work with other things around is needed for more success . Having a good network of collaborators and collaborating with people from other areas of science and learning more things from them is very vital. High quality research and pursuing multiple lines of research will improve one's chances of success (but at the same time one has to learn how to focus on a single problem when the situation demands it). When trying to solve complex problems, progress often results from diverse perspectives. That is, the ability to see the problem differently, not simply “being smart,” often is the key to a breakthrough. As a result, when groups of intelligent individuals are working to solve hard problems,the diversity of the problem solvers matters more than their individual ability . Science is mostly a group subject.

There are some specific traits that run a scientific mind (2). These things help scientists to continue their work in all circumstances:

Curiosity, trying to see the unseen and the whole picture, observing things very keenly, having a sharp eye and a logical and reasoning mind, independent critical thinking and the ability to creatively connect different things, dealing with adversities and failures very effectively and the ability to withstand frustration and overcome failure, enjoying stress and pressure that come with work, accepting challenges and inviting them more and more, competing with the best minds in the world, asking Qs until they get all the answers to their satisfaction : Scientists love these words: Why, what, when, where, who, which, how, is it, does it, has it, can it, do they ..., giving attention to details, strictly following the scientific methods and methodology without any exceptions, and having an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Footnotes:

  1. How to make scientific research in India a success story
  2. The specific traits of a scientific mind

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