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Contrary to Betteridge's law, yes we need polymaths. Asimov wrote a story along these lines. Already there are cases of esoteric knowledge in one field being
by DrBazza 9y ago
Contrary to Betteridge's law, yes we need polymaths. Asimov wrote a story along these lines. Already there are cases of esoteric knowledge in one field being applicable to another. I recall, though cannot find the reference, of a pure maths technique being applied to quantum physics which only happened by the fortunate meeting of two researchers.
- SomeStupidPoint 9y agoHeck, it already happens entirely inside of a field: probably once a year and at least once a decade, there's a major paper in math or physics that is basically "applying standard technique in subfield A to subfield B".
- housel 9y agoIndeed, one of my professors in grad school defined a research contribution as adding an edge in a metaphorical bipartite graph to link formerly disparate subfields.
- teddyh 9y agoFor the curious, the Asimov story is called Sucker Bait, from 1954.
- DrBazza 9y agoThat's the one!
- happycube 9y agoFeynman did most of his physics using straight calculus. He hid his work to make it look like it was easy for him...
- ctchocula 9y agoThe pure maths technique you are thinking about is the Monster group [1]. Sadly, I don't recall the names of the two researchers involved in the chance meeting. [1] https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-chase-moonshine-string-theory-connections-20150312/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-chase-moonshin...