Indictment Quotes (2 quotes)
Until its results have gone through the painful process of publication, preferably in a refereed journal of high standards, scientific research is just play. Publication is an indispensable part of science. Publish or perish is not an indictment of the system of academia; it is a partial prescription for creativity and innovation. Sustained and substantial publication favors creativity. Novelty of conception has a large component of unpredictability. ... One is often a poor judge of the relative value of his own creative efforts. An artists ranking of his own works is rarely the same as that of critics or of history. Most scientists have had similar experiences. Ones supply of reprints for a pot-boiler is rapidly exhausted, while a major monograph that is ones pride and joy goes unnoticed. The strategy of choice is to increase the odds favoring creativity by being productive.
In 'Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologists point of view', American Zoologist (1982), 22, 233-234.
Youre aware the boy failed my grade school math class, I take it? And not that many years later hes teaching college. Now I ask you: Is that the sorriest indictment of the American educational system you ever heard? [pauses to light cigarette.] No aptitude at all for long division, but never mind. Its him they ask to split the atom. How he talked his way into the Nobel prize is beyond me. But then, I suppose its like the man says, its not what you know...
Karl Arbeiter (former teacher of Albert Einstein)
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
