Discover
/
Article

Readers Respond About Arrogance, Confidence, Brilliance, Humility, and Stupidity

JUL 01, 2003

DOI: 10.1063/1.4797070

Kurt Nassau

Congratulations to J. Murray Gibson for his much needed comments on the arrogance of some physicists. Let me give a specific example of such arrogance, heard during a lunch conversation at Bell Labs in the good old days. A very senior administrator of research commented about the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Peter Debye: “He could not have been that good a scientist or he would have become a physicist.”

More about the Authors

Kurt Nassau. (nassaukurt@aol.com) Lebanon, New Jersey, US .

Related content
/
Article
/
Article
/
Article
/
Article
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_2003_07.jpeg

Volume 56, Number 7

Get PT in your inbox

Physics Today - The Week in Physics

The Week in Physics" is likely a reference to the regular updates or summaries of new physics research, such as those found in publications like Physics Today from AIP Publishing or on news aggregators like Phys.org.

Physics Today - Table of Contents
Physics Today - Whitepapers & Webinars
By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.