LB 492 Blog

                In part one of the biography Albert Einstein: Ideas and Opinions , Einstein’s opinions of the world and society around him were described. These include his opinion of good and evil, women of America, and the meaning of Life, all of which were probably influenced heavily from his experiences with the war. The three opinion pieces that captured my attention the most were his views on the meaning of life, the true value of a human being, and on good and evil. He gave no direct answer to the meaning of life but stated that a person is only unfit to live life if he views it as meaningless. On the point for the true value of a human being, Einstein stated that one’s value is based on how much one has attained liberation from oneself. For good and evil, he stated that someone is good if they provide work that elevates them, not by the fruits of the work but from gaining understanding. This lines up well with both the Telos of science, s...

                In part five of the book Albert Einstein: Ideas and Opinions all of Einstein’s major contributions to science were discussed, both through his research and through his activism in science. All of the compilations in the sections were passages taken from publications, radio conferences, or lectures that Einstein gave throughout his years. This allows for Einstein’s character and passion towards science to be understood by the reader which gives great depth and appreciation for what he did. Even though most of the contributions mentioned were things such as the theory of relativity and E=MC^2 and they were highly intellectual, the section that astounded me the most was a short part about the language of science. At first I wondered why such a scientifically intellectual person such as Einstein would be talking about language. Yet, his account of how scientific language is an international language that conveys to others concepts an...

                In chapter six of Dr. Pennock’s book, two hierarchical virtues of intellectual humility and courage were discussed and related to how scientists need to accept failure as a part of science. This includes admitting ignorance, subjecting oneself to the evidence, and being willing to have one’s hypothesis be challenged even if that means having it get proven wrong. However, since these are “ought” virtues and not what is reality, there are methodical systems in place to protect science and force scientists to follow a proper model to let natural truths be discovered. Though there are a few scientists that are not always humble or courageous and yet are still fantastic scientists, most scientists are able to truly flourish in science by being humble and courageous in order to have their curiosity be satisfied. An example of someone who was truly intellectually humble was Darwin. He always viewed himself as average and said that he was...

                Chapter five of Dr. Pennock’s book goes into detail about how scientists develop virtues, and therefore character, based on forming habits, how these habits produce excellence in the scientific field and shape our desires and actions. These habits are things that take time to develop and follow through consistently on since humans are not virtuous by birth, though habits do enable us to put our instincts such as curiosity into action. Habits just like any virtue should be balanced in order for them to not become a vice and takes discipline to accomplish this. The example that Dr. Pennock used in the chapter was how habits of being meticulous can turn into a vice of being obsessive-compulsive. He does explain that scientists need to be a little more on the extreme side of meticulous in order to perform well, but he does not say that scientists should become compulsive. At that point, the scientist will be focused on say washing the...

                In chapter four of Dr. Pennock’s book, “Ardent Observers,” he discusses the importance of having friends and other colleagues within the scientific fields and later describes the autonomy and humanistic side of science. He emulates this by saying that being a scientist is not only like going an adventure with an unknown end but also like being in a love relationship with all the emotions of excitement, attentiveness, and just pure love for the field. Often, people adopt the stereotypical idea of a scientist as an emotionless intellectual. Yet, scientists are people just like anyone else who are filled with emotions, passions, and desires. Dr. Pennock supports this notion by showing that scientists are attentive, which anyone in any relationship knows is an important expression of love and care, and have the emotional capacity to act and just state reasoning. It is important for scientists to be attentive because if they were not, ...

                Chapters nine through twelve of A Feeling for the Organism describe the difficulties McClintock had in sharing her newly discovered transposition genes to her colleagues and how the advancement of molecular biology supported McClintock’s findings years later. It was only until discoveries made by molecular biologists such as Peter Starlinger and Heinz Saedler, and Monod and Jacob that people began to understand and accept McClintock’s previous findings, though it was still an uphill battle for her the whole time. What I think though was the two main initial barriers that kept people from believing in McClintock’s findings were her poor communication of the findings and her lack of social relations with her colleagues. Though communicating new results to others who have no expertise in the field is difficult, the way McClintock went about it did not help either. Learning how to be able to simplify what one is trying to teach takes...

                In chapters five through eight in A Feeling for the Organism , the author talks about Barbra McClintock’s years at the University of Missouri, an overview of the development of genetics as a field and how McClintock fit in to that, her maize research at Cold Spring Harbor, and her discovery of controlled mutation in maize coloration through transposition. The chapter that stood out to me the most was chapter seven which discussed about McClintock beginning her work at Cold Spring Harbor before and during World War II. What fascinated me about it was McClintock’s thoughts on working there. It was the perfect place to grow her corn without any worries about departmental policies while also being a fixed job, something she was struggling to find. Despite all this though, she initially did not want to work there. Luckily she did since it was one of the few places during World War II that was not stuck as hard as other research labs. Ye...