SCIENTIST : What It Really Means to Be a Scientist, Myths and Stereotypes About Scientists

SCIENTIST

A Scientist is a white coated completely logical thinking machine, objective, precise, unbiased, free from prejudice using inductive and deductive reasoning. He is as cold as an electronic computer. He deals in things you can handle, touch, measure in a quantitative manner and verify, not with ephemeral disembodied concepts. The scientist works meticulously, adding one irrefutable fact to another until, the whole of reality is systematised and categorised. Intent on wresting secrets from an unwilling nature, such a man is left devoid of the finer feelings which characterise a normal human being.

Human brain is a machine of rather limited capacity to create and adopt new ideas. The proof of this is how most of people stick to their ideas even if abundant evidence shows that they are wrong. It is not generally known how difficult it is for a human mind to develop a new idea even if it is only a small element of newness. One only has to think of the invention of a simple device such as wheel, which was discovered by only one or a few groups of people, which fairly advanced civilization remained ignorant of it.

Usual procedure of programme is to add very small new ideas to previously existing facts. The growth of knowledge occurs by small jumps and thus appear continuous. Large jumps are extremely rare. New ideas and inventions occur to people who are thinking constantly on a problem. This thinking has to produce a great pre-occupation and even become painful. Then all of a sudden and perhaps as a consequence of some unconscious thinking solutions emerges to “Eureka, I have found it”.

Prof.(Dr.) K.P. Singh

Ph.D (IARI, 1986) Motivational Speaker, Teacher, Scientist, Lifetime Achievement Awardee

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