1/ Thread: You and Your Research
In 1986, Richard Hamming, a famous mathematician, gave a speech titled “You and Your Research”.
@RishiGosalia insisted I read the speech, so I did. It is one of the few things I would like to re-read many times in future.
Leaving some notes.
In 1986, Richard Hamming, a famous mathematician, gave a speech titled “You and Your Research”.
@RishiGosalia insisted I read the speech, so I did. It is one of the few things I would like to re-read many times in future.
Leaving some notes.
2/ “shouldn't you say to yourself,, “Yes, I would like to do something significant”
Success is not a mere byproduct of luck although it does play a role. Many successful scientists had many great work, not just one-off work. Think Einstein, Shannon etc.
Success is not a mere byproduct of luck although it does play a role. Many successful scientists had many great work, not just one-off work. Think Einstein, Shannon etc.
3/ Newton said, ``If others would think as hard as I did, then they would get similar results.''
“Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to.”
“Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to.”
4/ "When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. The great scientists often make this error... They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow."
5/ ``Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest.''
"The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest."
"The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest."
6/ "Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory...
7/ ...If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance."
A beautiful example of this was Charles Darwin.
A beautiful example of this was Charles Darwin.
8/ “If you do not work on an important problem, it's unlikely you'll do important work. It's perfectly obvious. Great scientists have thought through, in a careful way, a number of important problems in their field, and they keep an eye on wondering how to attack them”
9/ “The average scientist, so far as I can make out, spends almost all his time working on problems which he believes will not be important and he also doesn't believe that they will lead to important problems.”
10/ "I finally adopted what I called ``Great Thoughts Time.'' When I went to lunch Friday noon, I would only discuss great thoughts after that. By great thoughts I mean ones like: ``What will be the role of computers in all of AT&T?'', ``How will computers change science?''
11/ "The great scientists, when an opportunity opens up, get after it and they pursue it. They drop all other things and they get after an idea because they had already thought the thing through. Their minds are prepared; they see the opportunity and they go after it
12/ “How do I obey Newton's rule? He said, ``If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants.'' These days we stand on each other's feet!”
13/ “I have now come down to a topic which is very distasteful; it is not sufficient to do a job, you have to sell it. `Selling' to a scientist is an awkward thing to do. It's very ugly; you shouldn't have to do it.”
14/ “You have to learn to write clearly and well so that people will read it, you must learn to give reasonably formal talks, and you also must learn to give informal talks.”
15/ “it is very definitely worth the struggle to try and do first-class work because the truth is, the value is in the struggle more than it is in the result. The struggle to make something of yourself seems to be worthwhile in itself. The success and fame are sort of dividends”
16/ Why do so many of the people who have great promise, fail?
17/ How to convert a fault to an asset
18/ “why so many people who have greatness within their grasp don't succeed are: they don't work on important problems, they don't become emotionally involved, they don't try and change what is difficult to some other situation which is easily done but is still important..."
End/ Although it was directed to fellow scientists, a lot of parallels exists for analysts, investors, and entrepreneurs! I recommend you read the whole speech in a quiet afternoon.
Link to the full speech: cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAnd…
Link to the full speech: cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAnd…
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