Scientific Research: What it Means to Me.
This article gives a personal perception of the author, of what scientific research means. Citing examples from the lives of all time greats like Newton, Kelvin and Maxwell he stresses the agonies of thinking up new ideas, the urge for creativity and the pleasure one derives from the process when it is completed. He then narrates instances from his own life that proved inspirational towards his research career. In his early studenthood, his parents and maternal uncle had widened his intellectual horizons while in later life his interaction with Fred Hoyle made him take up research challenges away from the beaten path. He concludes that taking up an anti-Establishment stand in research can create many logistical difficulties, but the rewards of success are all the more pleasing.
Founder Director, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) 1989-2003, Pune; President, Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union, 1994-97. Astrophysicist and Science populariser.
Jayant V
JV
Narlikar