Nano, by Saad

This sentiment is the key point of an essay by Martin Schwartz that I found. Titled “The importance of stupidity in scientific research,” the piece explains that unless one truly delves into the unknown (thus feeling “stupid”) it is not possible to achieve great, groundbreaking discoveries.

Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice.  Focusing on important questions puts us in the awkward position of being ignorant.  One of the beautiful things about science is that it allows us to bumble along, getting it wrong time after time, and feel perfectly fine as long as we learn something each time.

I certainly agree.  In materials science, we strive to create new and useful materials or fabrication processes.  The foremost question is, “Can we make it?”  If it were easy to make, someone else would have done it already.  So we struggle through a process of trial-and-error: the first pass is based on known techniques, with subsequent refinements based on what we find after each step with a change in the fabrication parameters.  Trying to create something–without a recipe that limits the scope of mistakes one can make–is incredibly humbling.

No doubt, this can be difficult for students who are accustomed to getting the answers right. No doubt, reasonable levels of confidence and emotional resilience help, but I think scientific education might do more to ease what is a very big transition: from learning what other people once discovered to making your own discoveries. The more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries.

Conclusion: research is not easy and it certainly is not for everyone.  Check your ego at the lab door.