On Science and Art
“Smart People Do Smart Experiments”
This statement might sound intuitive, but it is not. When Dr. Keil (a really smart yeast geneticist) mentioned these words on my first day as a graduate student, I got inspired. I did not know why. These words implied something that I found very soothing.
Earlier today, I was thinking about this and realized what it actually meant to me. Science is an art! It is a reflection of someone’s self. The same way a painting is a reflection of who painted it, or music is a reflection of who composed it.
Smart people do smart experiment. Stupid people do stupid experiments. Sloppy people do sloppy experiment. Cautious people do cautious experiments. Like I said, this sounds intuitive … but it is not. Science is more about the scientist than anything else. Medicine is more about the accumulated knowledge than the individual doctor. After all, a doctor without the knowledge is not a good doctor. On the other hand, scientists without a complete (or true) understanding of their fields can still be good scientists.
If you put two scientists together in the same room and ask them to tackle the same problem, it would be very unlikely for both to come up with the same solution. Their solution is a reflection of who they are, what they know; and the experiences they had.
