Does anyone really expect the rantings of a 70+ year old alumnus in a
little-read publication to be taken seriously? Especially the bit
about "science is like art". Science is nothing like art! Granted, some
elegance is required in presentation of one's results, and some scientific
images (e.g. fluorescent confocals) do have a certain artlike quality. But
to say science needs a certain level of creativity is just missing the
boat. Science is peppered with people plodding away, with no creativity,
just logically applying method X to problem Y and getting answers that are
publishable - where's the creativity in that? How many artists do you
know that are scientists in their spare time? Now turn that around - how
many scientists play musical instruments, paint at the weekend, take part
in amateur dramatics? Sure, scientists have a lot of creativity, but it
is not a prerequisite for the job, hence so many scientists find other
outlets for their creative talents than at the workplace.
Agreed about Alumni magazines. What do these people get off on? I got my
alma-mater's mag a while back and noticed an article about recent success
in the arena of popular music by some alumni. It fills my heart with a joy
so rapturous, to know that the guys who did no work and bummed around
drinking and jamming in the student union bar all day are now making
it. Yeah right!
PSB
_________________________________________
Dr. Paul S. Brookes. (brookes at uab.edu)
UAB Department of Pathology, G004 Volker Hall
1670 University Blvd., Birmingham AL 35294 USA
Tel (001) 205 934 1915 Fax (001) 205 934 1775
http://peir.path.uab.edu/brookes
The quality of e-mails can go down as well as up
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