Russell Standish wrote:


Very good! If we ever get around to making a FAQ for this group, this
link should be right up front.

Cheers

On Fri, Oct 14, 2005 at 12:18:19AM +0200, Saibal Mitra wrote:
> You clearly forgot to read this:
> http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/quack.html


"How to Become a Bad Theoretical Physicist", by Nobel prize-winning physicist Gerard 't Hooft, is also pretty good:

http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theoristbad.html

(It's a followup to his page 'How to Become a Good Theoretical Physicist' at http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html )

Some quotes from 't Hooft:

"Here is how to become a bad theorist: take your own immature theory, stop checking it for mistakes, don't listen to colleagues who do spot weaknesses, and start admiring your own infallible intelligence. Try to overshout all your critics, and have your work published anyway. If the well-established science media refuse to publish your work, start your own publishing company and edit your own books. Accuse all your critics of the short-sightedness that you actually suffer too much from yourself. It is easy and pleasant, it does not require the hard work of checking and re-checking your results, and if you are sufficiently eloquent, you might even gather some admirers."

"The impudence to attach your own name to whatever you claim to have discovered is considered improper in science, and in practice it betrays amateurism and incompetence."


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