Rough outline of the plexus


Here we explain some of what will be covered in the plexus.

There are a few things I want to do with this blog. One of them is to put down my thoughts about things I read relating to science and to my formation as an interdisciplined researcher. To motivate this, I'm going to do profiles of well-known and not-so-well known (but very successful) scientists in hopes of discovering some of the organizing principles of doing science well.

I will draw on two main sources for this on-going investigation. The first is the list of Nobel laureates. There is no question that the single most visible side of science is how we award our most prominent members. I bet people who only watch two movies all year still tune into the Academy Awards. I know that the Nobel is a very political prize—and maybe we can get into that—but it is still the clearest way to find truly exceptional scientists. And many of them are or were very well interdisciplined.

The second source is far less well-known outside of the professional science community, and even then I'm not so sure if people are aware of this. It's from the people who do the Web of Science, and it's called ISI Highly Cited. The first time I read that, I thought it was a joke since I read it as sort of scientific street slang: "Yo, check it: is I highly cited?" Then I realized that it wasn't another instance of Ali G infiltrating further into our inner sanctums.

These profiles will be listed under the, er, "Profiles" category.

Posted: Mon - November 15, 2004 at 04:52 PM         |

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