Surprised to see Ramón y Cajal argue in 1897 that more researchers should pursue science in a home laboratory while earning primary income through some profession, rather than working in a governmental / university lab.
I wonder how unusual these views were at the time.
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One of the first things he says: He thinks he's not particularly smart; that most scientists are not that smart either (Only a tiny minority, by his standards) and what distinguishes them is perseverance and hard work. This seems true.
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Yes, and in fact he thinks slowness-of-thought may be an advantage! An interesting passage:
In the modern era, King-Wai Yau (a great scientist: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King-Wai_) has expressed a similar sentiment. You need to be not-too-dumb and also not-too-smart to do good science.
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This flies in the face of all the bell curve memes I’ve seen in the past two months, Gaurav. I don’t know that I can believe it.
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