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Geofysisk institutt

GFI/BCCR Seminar: Fifty Years of Fascination, Fun, Fulfilment, Frustration, and Failure in Scientific Research

Hovedinnhold

John Birks (Department of Biology and BCCR, University of Bergen, and Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London):

Fifty Years of Fascination, Fun, Fulfilment, Frustration, and Failure in Scientific Research

 

Abstract
This seminar is not about current scientific research but is about my life as a research scientist and its inevitable ups and downs, and the major phases in a research scientist's career from the pioneer and building phases to the mature and senescent phases.

I discuss the role of external extrinsic drivers, intrinsic factors, and chance events in my career. I explore what variables best predict, in a statistical sense, 'scientific performance' as assessed by publication citations. I conclude with a discussion of the fascinations, fun, fulfilments, frustrations, and failures in 50 years of research and what one can learn from 'lessons from the past'. Chance events have been the predominant driver in my scientific career.