[From the article] Einstein once remarked that a person "who has not made their greatest contribution to science before the age of thirty will never do so."
However, this was stated by someone that had the Annus Mirabilis, his contemporaries Werner Heisenberg et al were young men. Richard Feynman, bawdy and irreverently playing bongos while working on the Oppenheimer project. All of this coincided with the reluctant contribution by Einstein to the discovery of Quantum Mechanics: "spooky action at a distance."
So...the world has gotten more complicated. Slide rules have been replaced by calculators - as tools, the volumes of data that needs analysis requires some dexterity in computer programming.
Note the following:
If I had a "favorite" Calculus problem, it was this one (wish I could have drawn it better). It requires a variable substitution, followed by a Partial Fraction Decomposition, reference to the right integral tables and a LOT of tenacity! It took me and my classmates about three days on the chalk board at Marteena Hall. It takes me now about 45 minutes (I reference Efunda.com for integral tables now).
What it's done is extended the viability of science as a profession. Upwards into times when researchers usually "settle" for the cushy office job in administration, or in a field they never imagined using their technical skills in.
Individuals don't make discoveries now: teams work through several graduate school rotations. Former students come back to work as post docs, or on other enterprises related to the previous research topic. The academic landscape has changed as full professors must train in the skills of full people managers, bringing out the best in their students as a manager in a corporate arena must bring out the best in their personnel to drive innovation and change.
Singular eureka moments are dead, as are imposed limits due to the calendar.
Long live...contributions and collaboration.
ABC Science: Young Einstein is a modern myth
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