In writing up my results, I did not describe the actual process--including my use of the spare tube--that took me from research problem to research conclusions. Yet I know I am not the only scientist who describes results in this manner. Reports, seminars, and papers often do not adequately describe the process by which researchers make discoveries.
This phenomenon leads me to what I consider a larger problem in science today--inattention to "the personal factor." To me, science is not just equipment, precedents, research problems, and data analysis. It's also the process of collaborating, of finding inspiration, of daydreaming and arguing, of listening, of having the courage to follow a hunch. Yet how much of your training helped you with these personal factors? Are the unusual routes to such breakthroughs as Teflon, Minoxidil, aspartame, and the polymerase chain reaction just human-interest stories, or can they tell us something vital about ...
