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The 2008 Nobel prizes in science were awarded
to four Japanese and that is wonderful news during these days of mostly gloomy
reports. Of course, the US considers Yoichiro Nambu on that list to be an
American because he became an American citizen in 1970. No matter. At an
interview at the University of Chicago he was asked that inevitable and somewhat
foolish question, “What advice do you have for young scientists hoping to
follow in your footsteps to the Nobel Prize?” Dr. Nambu’s advice was to
think thoroughly for oneself. “Think independently, and think all the time. I
like to tackle a problem (I do not mean an exam problem) first by myself, and
then look up somebody’s answer, if there is one.” As a teacher I am often
saddened by the fact that students spend so much time memorizing other
people’s answers to other people’s questions.
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I
wholeheartedly agree that those who study seriously must find their own answers
to their own and others’ questions. Dr. Nambu’s words reminded me of what
Isaac Asimov (American biochemist and science fiction writer) said about the
pursuit of science. If you’ll forgive me another quote: “The most exciting
phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny…' ” To me this means that instead
of training our children to pass tests and win prizes we should nurture their
curiosity and stop feeding them our answers.
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