This reminded my of a chapter from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (or perhaps its sequel). At one point he was burned out on physics. He took a break. One d

This reminded my of a chapter from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (or perhaps its sequel). At one point he was burned out on physics. He took a break. One day he saw a juggler spinning plates on sticks (or something like that) and started working out the physics of it, just for fun. People asked him what that was good for and he said nothing, it's just interesting. One thing led to another, and that's how he ended up with his Nobel.