In my own case, as with the majority of my colleagues, I concluded that my work was respectable but not brilliant. Very well. Unfortunately, I now have to decide what to do with the rest of my life. My 35-year-old friends who are attorneys and physicians and businessmen are still climbing toward their peaks, perhaps 15 years up the road, and are blissfully uncertain of how high they'll reach. It is an awful thing, at such an age, to fully grasp one's limitations.
Why do scientists peak sooner than most other professionals? No one knows for sure. I suspect it has something to do with the single focus and detachment of the subject. A handiness for visualizing in six dimensions or for abstracting the motion of a pendulum favors a nimble mind but apparently has little to do with anything else. In contrast, the arts and humanities require experience with ...
