Occasionally I talk to professors here at EPFL and other universities I visit.
During these talks, they reveal some thoughts about science, and scientists, that I think might be worth sharing with you.
The other day was such a moment, where a young professor, very ambitious, shared the following, paraphrasing here from memory:
“That’s what I think makes you see someone will be a great scientist, and very productive in the lab.
There are people who, when they encounter some problem in experiments, repeat without troubleshooting, then a couple days later send me an email that we should discuss this issue, then by the time we discuss it, I have to do all the thinking, and it’s already been a week and a half by the time the first troubleshooting takes place.
Other people try to predict what might go wrong before they do an experiment and they are ready.
Once the problem occurs, they can split the problem in several small possibilities.
They examine each as fast as possible, and come to consult me if they really get stuck.
But they have already examined half the possible problems and we don’t have to waste time on it.
If you have this approach during a 100 problems throughout several years, and are fast in solving them, that will save you immense time. You’ll simply move faster.
After 5 years, that person will be way ahead of the one who takes the slow, not-so-proactive approach. It’s just numbers. “
Hope this gives some food for Monday thought,
take care everyone,
Kenan