Posted by Reilly Atkinson on September 02, 1999 at 21:46:22:

In Reply to: Re: Beyond the "Stovepipes" of Industry & Academia posted by Yogesh Malhotra on September 02, 1999 at 17:10:46:

Sir,

With all due respect, I find the quote from Mr. Churchman to be way off the mark. The science he describes is not the science that exists in the real world, at least in my experience.

Because something does not fit nicely into the proscribed discipline is often a clue that a great research area is opening up. Alan Cormack, late of Tufts, developed the extremely complicated math that lead to the Cat Scan. Fortunately at Tufts we had several active biophysicists -- they lived in the cracks between medicine and physics --. They were instrumental in helping the process of realizing that Cormack's pure math had some serious potential in medicine. I feel very fortunate to have been there when Cormack did his Nobel Prize work, to see true interdisciplinary work take place.What I've described gives a much better characterization of science than does Mr. Churchman.

Watson and Crick combined physics, chemistry, and biology to untangle the structure of DNA -- they crossed boudaries between disciplines.

I fail to understand why there seem to be so many uninformed criticisms of science. Science is liberating, not constraining.

The quote about doctoral theses in your set of quotes is of dubious validity. My Stanford thesis on radiative corrections to electron scattering was quite widely used in the late 60's. And I've had several calls about that work over the past few years. I'm far from unique. If the quote is true, then the academic standards of the associated university are suspect.

I very much enjoy the forum here, and have learned a great deal from my participation. The forum is in many ways typical of how good science is done -- free inquiry, and no bounds but the truth. Your efforts at putting all this together are to be commended.

Thanks
Reilly Atkinson

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Follow Ups:

• On Science and Art of Knowledge Yogesh Malhotra 14:30:08 9/03/99 (0)
• Re: Beyond the "Stovepipes" of Industry & Academia Mezei 11:07:53 9/03/99 (3)
  • Reflections on Education, Learning, Doing & Teaching Yogesh Malhotra 14:56:52 9/03/99 (0)
  • Reflections on Education, Learning, Doing & Teaching Yogesh Malhotra 14:54:07 9/03/99 (0)
  • Reflections on Learners, Doers and Teachers Yogesh Malhotra 14:45:30 9/03/99 (0)
• Re: Beyond the "Stovepipes" of Industry & Academia Kees de Vos 06:14:23 9/03/99 (0)

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