CHAPTER ELEVEN 



SCIENTISTS 



" It is not the talents we possess so much as the use we 

 make of them that counts in the progress of the world." 



Brailsford Robertson 



Attributes required for research 



IN MANY respects the research worker resembles the pioneer. 

 He explores the frontiers of knowledge and requires many of 

 the same attributes : enterprise and initiative, readiness to face 

 difficulties and overcome them with his own resourcefulness and 

 ingenuity, perseverance, a spirit of adventure, a certain dissatis- 

 faction with well-known territory and prevailing ideas, and an 

 eagerness to try his own judgment. 



Probably the two most essential attributes for the research 

 worker are a love of science and an insatiable curiosity. The 

 person attracted to research usually is one who retains more 

 than usual of the instinct of curiosity. Anyone whose imagination 

 cannot be fired by the prospect of finding out something never 

 before found by man will only waste his and others' time by 

 taking up research, for only those will succeed who have a genuine 

 interest and enthusiasm for discovery. The most successful 

 scientists are capable of the zeal of the fanatic but are discipUned 

 by objective judgment of their results and by the need to meet 

 criticism from others. Love of science is hkely to be accompanied 

 by scientific taste and also is necessary to enable one to persist 

 in the face of frustration. 



A good intelligence, internal drive, wiUingness to work hard 

 and tenacity of purpose are further prerequisites for success in 

 research, as in nearly all walks of life. The scientist also needs 

 imagination so that he can picture in his mind how processes 

 work, how things take place that cannot be observed and conjure 

 up hypotheses. The research worker is sometimes a difficult person 



139 



