Richard Hamming: You and Your Research

http://www.paulgraham.com/hamming.html

首先要对自己说“Yes, I would like to do first-class work”，“Yes, I would like to do something significant.”

``Luck favors the prepared mind.''

"If others would think as hard as I did, then they would get similar results."_Newton

One of the characteristics you see, and many people have it including great scientists, is that usually when they were young they had independent thoughts and had the courage to pursue them.

One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can.That is the characteristic of great scientists; they have courage. They will go forward under incredible circumstances; they think and continue to think.

What appears to be a fault, often, by a change of viewpoint, turns out to be one of the greatest assets you can have. So ideal working conditions are very strange. The ones you want aren't always the best ones for you.

The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest.

"Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration."

 

most great scientists are well aware of why their theories are true and they are also well aware of some slight misfits which don't quite fit and they don't forget it.Darwin writes in his autobiography that he found it necessary to write down every piece of evidence which appeared to contradict his beliefs because otherwise they would disappear from his mind. When you find apparent flaws you've got to be sensitive and keep track of those things, and keep an eye out for how they can be explained or how the theory can be changed to fit them. Those are often the great contributions. Great contributions are rarely done by adding another decimal place. It comes down to an emotional commitment. Most great scientists are completely committed to their problem. Those who don't become committed seldom produce outstanding, first-class work.

So the way to manage yourself is that when you have a real important problem you don't let anything else get the center of your attention - you keep your thoughts on the problem. Keep your subconscious starved so it has to work on your problem, so you can sleep peacefully and get the answer in the morning, free.

What are the important problems in my field?_Ask myself

The average scientist, so far as I can make out, spends almost all his time working on problems which he believes will not be important and he also doesn't believe that they will lead to important problems.