I always feel somewhat uneasy in mood when I’m together with medical scientists. They’re so serious. They see science as a contest for excellence and authority, rather than as a playground for grownup kids.
I came to think about this when I read today’s news that the 2010 Nobel prize winner in physics, Andre Geim, “once published a scientific paper that was co-authored by his pet hamster, Tisha”.
I can’t really imagine a medical scientist writing a paper together with his pet minipig.
Why is this? Nature (playful people are drawn to physics rather than medicine)? Or nurture (6 years of disciplined medical studies wipes out all the childish minds; or kills the wholesome childish impulses)?
