I had breakfast this morning with several faculty colleagues. We were discussing the odd question of what it takes to be successful in science. This is not a trivial matter. It certainly takes more than raw intelligence. There’s something beyond doing well in courses and scoring well on exams. There are experiments completed, papers written, talks given and fundamentally there is something more than the sum which gives rise to scientific success as measured of course by substantive scientific discovery.
I think back to the sport I played in high school: what we here in the US call soccer and the world calls football. Every weekend in my Arlington Virginia neighborhood I observe toddlers playing the same game that David Beckham and Pele played, albeit at a completely different level. And the difference in play across the spectrum of that sport is not simply raw talent. I’m sure that Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours plays an important role in turning a toddler into a soccer star. But there is also a passion to be the best that differentiates the teenage soccer “prodigies” from the Beckham-level athletes.
And that’s probably true for science as well. You can’t achieve at a top level in science without a combination of innate talent, Gladwell’s hours and a passion to be the best. As a result, other things in life have to give way perhaps–no doubt Tiger Woods gave up some quality time at some point to hone his golf game, even with his superior natural giftedness.
It can’t happen spontaneously–there’s the necessity for hard work (as well as good luck) to be counted among the best in science. That prioritization–that putting the science first: that’s passion.
Discoverers and Discoveries 