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| Birth of an Idea |
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We touch here on one reason that research can prove attractive, productive and fun as a scientific career. Where exactly do original concepts spring from? This is distinct from the discovery of actual scientific facts. In research we seek both, but in many ways the ideas are more challenging and exciting, partly because they are basically fragile like a new-born child, needing nurturing and protection.
Yet one day that child gets onto his feet, walks by himself and never looks back.
A related enterprise looks for ideas that are patentable, and that might therefore
become profitable in the future. Here I am reminded of the requirement we had at Varian, to write up all new experiments in a personal laboratory notebook. Each item was signed and dated; then cross-signed 'read and understood' by an independent colleague. The Varian founders relied heavily on patents, and emphasised the importance of keeping these laboratory records. When I started a research group of my own, I looked for a different scheme that might be useful for developing new scientific concepts. I called this the 'Ideas Book'. Everyone was invited to write down his own thoughts about original experiments, with the proviso that no-one else criticised them directly in print, acknowledging their inherent fragility. A common first reaction from other readers might be 'This would never work in practice'. But that can prompt thinking about variations that might turn out to be more useful. This is the key. The Ideas Book became a mechanism that allowed concepts to evolve. Some suggestions eventually survived, while others wilted and died. Like most science, it worked by trial and error, with a heavy dose of the latter.
Because Professor Steven Hawking had such unfortunate physical disabilities, this precluded his writing of equations, so he was compelled to work with geometrical concepts rather than the usual mathematical formalism. This illustrates his genius. The items in our Ideas Book similarly avoided mention of the established mathematical nomenclature of magnetic resonance, such as density matrices and Liouville space. This may have evolved from my own belief that 'hand waving' arguments and intuition are the best generators of new concepts. The idea comes first; formal representation later.
There were of course deeper implications. The Ideas Book made it clear that everyone was involved. Every proposed new experiment could blossom through the operation of the Ideas Book, and the entire group could take credit. The key advantage is that the stimulation pulled everyone together; this was never a one-man show. I still feel proud that so many members of our group 'graduated' and went on to form their own research enterprises, often more inventive than the original.
Here the general reader might well object that 'This is not the way most scientists
come up with a useful new experiment'. Normally a single personality is the fount of all new concepts while the rest of his research students then go on to implement them. How these particular ideas are generated is an entirely different story.
Ray Freeman FRS; 2020, or there abouts
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| Ray Freeman |
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