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Even Giants Must Stand on Solid Ground
| Article
# : |
19655 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1991 |
1,864 Words |
| Author
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Walter E. Massey
Walter E. Massey is director of the National Science
Foundation. He was vice president of research at the
University of Chicago and director of the Argonne National
Laboratory. This text was taken from his June 3, 1991,
commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. |
Excellence is a quality that is recognized by comparison. While it is judged generally from without, excellence begins within. Individuals achieve excellence through the choices and decisions they make regarding the conduct of their lives.
I would like to discuss a specific arena of excellence, the area of basic research in science and engineering. Many people think of research as a cut-and-dried process. And it is true that there are some clear "rules of the game."
The object of research, is, to paraphrase my good friend Nobel laureate Leon Cooper, discovering how the world works--separating the truth about the way things are from conceptions of the way they might be. To accomplish this task, good researchers are skeptical; they evaluate claims empirically and logically, not on the basis of authority. Good researchers are open, sharing their hypotheses, methodologies, and results, and making their primary data available to others. They do this so that results can be reproduced and findings confirmed. In this way, the research community protects its interest in the truth.
Good science and engineering research is the uncompromising pursuit of truth. As such, it represents the highest achievement of human intelligence and provides a constant source of enrichment to mankind's existence--intellectually, spiritually, and materially.
Resilience and fragility
"In science there can be no perfect crime, no permanently unsolved murder," as chemist Carl Djerassi notes in his novel about prize-winning research, Cantor's Dilemma. If a finding is important, sooner or later the experiment will be repeated and the results subjected to independent verification. The rules of research keep science and engineering truthful.
Simply put, the whole edifice of science and engineering research is built upon honesty. More than in any other endeavor, individuals conducting fundamental research depend upon the veracity of the accumulated insights and accomplishment of others. Sir Isaac Newton expressed it best when he said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of Giants."
But not even giants can see clearly if their feet are on shaky ground. Few things are more damaging to the research enterprise than falsehoods--be they the result or error,
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