Advice to young physicists

Many a person has had a single fruitful idea at the right time and has built his scientific life’s work upon it. As a rule, however, things are somewhat different. Of a hundred ideas that one carries around with him, ninety prove on closer scrutiny to be incapable of realization, inopportune, trivial, false, or something of the sort. Of the remaining ten, there is always one that is most promising, most practical, and easiest to execute. It takes time to find this one; instinct and intuition often play a decisive role here. Once you have found this idea, use all your energies to put it into practice, lest it be anticipated by others.

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