Standing on the shoulders of giants (V0031)
What makes a good scientist?
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Dr Julian Heyes from Crop & Food Research (now called Plant & Food Research) talks about excellence in science and what makes a good scientist.
Transcript
Dr Julian Heyes (Plant & Food Research ): A lot of science accidents have arisen from individuals. A strong willed individual who is prepared to say to the rest of the world 'I will do things my way'. Over history, human individuals stand out as being disbelievers of that state of the world's knowledge at that time, and they forcibly argue for their own view point. They are usually rejected and laughed at in their own lifetime and fortunately over historical time, we have come to recognise how great their insights were. There is the famous quote about the guy who says 'I can only see so far because I stand on the shoulders of a giant'. It is the idea that we are actually moving forward based on all the past knowledge.
Metadata
- Published:
- 21 November 2007
- Copyright:
- The University of Waikato
