I frequently reflect back on a 2008 exchange of letters in Physics Today between Lance Nizami and Steven Weinberg, 1979 Nobel Laureate in Physics. Weinberg noted that budding scientists universally envy the previous generation because they seemingly had such comparatively easy problems to solve. But Weinberg noted that yesterday’s problems were just as daunting as today’s, and offered encouragement to today’s aspiring scientists. But Nizami argued that Weinberg’s advice misses the mark because
The most serious challenge facing today’s doctoral graduate is not the daunting nature of physics problems, all of which will eventually be solved. Rather, it is the poor prospects for advancement in the scientific world.
In Nizami’s view doctoral graduates of Weinberg’s generation were virtually guaranteed faculty positions and faced less research competition. Nizami believed that career opportunities today (although perhaps to a lesser extent then) are based on studying the right field at the right university with the right advisor at the right time. Nizami noted that “huge state universities” are producing many redundant doctorates, and that
many in the current crop of postdocs are at the end of their research careers, not at the beginning
Naturally a Nobel laureate is not going to take this lying down. Weinberg recounted how as a postdoc he did not get the faculty job he had hoped for and had to move to a second postdoc. This alone is valid motivational background for today’s doctorates to consider in relation to the commitment and sacrifice the pursuit of a research career may entail, even for the most gifted. But the most important part of Weinberg’s response, and the part that sticks with me is his summary of what leads to career opportunities in research
In my experience, now as in the past, young theorists who write interesting papers on important subjects generally do wind up with good academic jobs. Graduate work in a first-rate physics department certainly helps one to get started in research, but the important thing is the research you do, not the university that grants your PhD. Physics departments do unfortunately produce many doctoral graduates who will not find success in their research, but this is because we have no way to tell in advance who can do good work after they leave graduate school. The process may seem callous, but how can we tell a young physicist not to try?
I believe that many a potential scientist has indeed been told not to try, but even worse are those that were nudged into redundancy. Perhaps we can improve our guidance of young scientists by encouraging more of them to ask early and often as Richard Hamming famously asked “Why do so few scientists make significant contributions?” Paraphrasing his (usually unwelcome) advice
If what you are doing is not important, and if you don’t think it is going to lead to something important, why are you working on it?