ability to think laterally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHowever McEwan then points out how much science is done in teams, rather than by individuals with which the above qualities might be associated.<\/p>\n
There does indeed seem to be a discrepancy between the archetype of the lone genius scientist and the actual practice of modern science, which has moved from the individuals\u2019 study into the laboratory. The notion of the great Einstein is still culturally prevalent (though often in a distorted, malign, \u201cmad scientist\u201d form) but is almost reduced to a myth. I speculate that many Britons, if asked to name living scientific high-fliers, might go with Stephen Hawking, and then immediately begin to struggle.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile a similar shift has not really taken place on the artistic wing of academia. Artistic collaborations are still usually experimental. Ensemble music is collaborative by definition, but even then the composer and conductor are often honoured more than anyone else taking part \u2013 I imagine most people can name five classical composers but might struggle to name five classical musicians. Film is a modern, collaborative artistic work, but again the director or the star are held aloft. If Britons were asked to name living artistic high-flyers, we would doubtless get very little agreement, but nevertheless I speculate that there would be plenty of answers.<\/p>\n
When the press report on new movies or think about new paintings or other works of art, the individual creator (be it Robert De Niro or Banksy or Madonna) is at the forefront, but when science is reported in mainstream press, not even the team, the university or theb company is always mentioned, let alone some individual supposed creative genius. Instead we get \u201cScientists have discovered\u2026\u201d and maybe buried away the bottom, \u201cThe research, published yesterday\u2026\u201d with an attribution as an aside, if they\u2019re lucky.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, this is very good practice by the media! partly because it really is true that the originators are less important than the finding and some named individual is unnecessary, but also because it encourages us to think of theory as objective, in the sense that it should be assessed, criticised and implemented without too much regard for its personal origins, peoples\u2019 reputations or the social implications amongst peers!<\/p>\n
But on the other hand, perhaps the de-emphasis of individual creative input and the move away from the notion of the great individual scientist (both in practice and in reporting) is a depersonalisation of science which removes motivation for those who might otherwise be more interested to learn about or take part in a more scientist-oriented science.<\/p>\n
Physics teachers are disappearing from British schools, apparently<\/a>. Why? Perhaps it is hard to be personally ambitious in a discipline, when there is a dearth of role models to follow; without living examples of high-achieving individuals, presented as such.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a Science Extra podcast today from the Guardian featuring novelist \u2013 and BHA Distinguished Supporter \u2013 Ian McEwan. The podcast is here:http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/science\/audio\/2008\/jul\/14\/science.extra.podcast I won\u2019t reproduce what he says \u2013 you can listen to the audio for that. But his first subject, before he gets on to talking about the beauteousness of theory and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2085,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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