The Habits of a Scientist Help us understand more about doing science, because many young people might not have the fortunate background in this rural setting that you have. In your book and in your description now you're conveying to us a sense of the discovery. Help us understand what it takes to be a scientist. One thing that you talk about again and again in your book is that often you turned failure into opportunity, for example, not getting the first teaching position as you went into the job market, but rather going into an industrial lab, which wasn't something that you chose. On the other hand, a lot of times, as you were thinking about new ways to do figures, you were discouraged by some of your mentors, who were concerned you were going down a road that wouldn't lead you anywhere.
Science is unpredictable, really.
New discoveries are new, we don't know them yet. They're new things. I think if you look at what's happened during this century, all the big changes have been sudden and unexpected. Nobody expected the nucleus to give out much energy, for example. I know many people who argued against semiconductors for computers.