and I try to be careful Harv!
I understand exactly why someone as talented as myself has never made a significant impact in the academic world. It has to do with a very serious character flaw! I do not speak until I know what I am talking about and I accept no opinions as superior to my own. If you can't convince me, I will not condescend to believe what you say. I yield intellectual superiority to no man and I have never seen one whit of any evidence that I should. (Neither do I believe anyone should.) Add to this the fact that I do not put anything forth until I think it is significant and you don't have the makings of academic success. As my thesis professor said, "Stafford, no one will every read your work because you haven't paid your dues!" He also refused to even look at it.
I think I pissed him off when I told him (after receiving my Ph.D.) that, in my opinion, my Ph.D. thesis was a piece of Language Removed. Now the thesis itself was worthless (being nothing but meaningless number crunching) but I will admit the work itself must have had some value as twenty years later, I found graduate students still using my appendices as working references on angular momentum algebra and multipole expansions.
Besides that, I regard my failure to make a significant academic impact as an immaterial flaw anyway. I am of the personal opinion that one could probably count the number of people who have made a significant impact on physics on one hand so I am far from alone there! By the way, what impact have you made. Anything that will still be noticed a thousand years from now? I doubt it don't you?
On the other hand, if notice is ever taken of what I have done, they will remember it for a long time! I would lay money on that (if there was any chance of reaching a competent educated mind)! Well, full circle; back to my opinions again and, as you know, opinions are worthless!
Have fun -- Dick |