Jerry Mitrovica is a professor of geophysics at Harvard who studies changes in sea-level. He was recently interviewed by the science magazine, Nautilus, (“Why Our Intuition About Sea-Level Rise is Wrong”, 18 Feb 2016) on such topics as how the earth’s shape changes when a ice melts, and why sea levels go down near a melting ice mass, but rise farther away. The last question put to him was, Where do your “A-ha!” moments come from?
Prof. Mitrovica’s response:
I think some scientists would disagree with me, but I think you really do have to give yourself time to think. You need to have some way in your life as a scientist to mull over what you’re seeing. And I strongly encourage my graduate students to have other interests, because the best way to have that time is to take a break from science. I’ve had moments where I’ve seen something in my models that I’d never seen before and I think, “Well, you know, a good scientist is never going to walk away from that.” A good scientist at that point sort of burrows in and says, “Why am I seeing that?” Because to see the unexpected is the reward of science.
