A necessary precondition is to define a good problem. Speaking from experience, this is easily the hardest step for physicists. For example "What is dark energ

A necessary precondition is to define a good problem. Speaking from experience, this is easily the hardest step for physicists. For example "What is dark energy?" or "Are there baby universes?" are not good problem definitions, but to my surprise "What is the radius of the proton?" is still a good problem definition today [1]. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/07/08/the-incredible-shrinking-proton-that-could-rattle-the-physics-world/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/07/08/the-inc...