The key answer of exercise 10

Discoveries made outside the laboratory

• Archimedes was having a bath when he shouted 'Eureka!'
• Physicist Richard Feynman saw a plate flying through the air in the college café, and was inspired to calculate electron orbits.
• Alexander Fleming was making a mould for his hobby, microbe painting, when he accidentally discovered penicillin.

The psychology of high achievers

• A study of high achievers (Nobel Prize winners vs other scientists) found that more than 50% were also artistic, and nearly all had a long-lasting hobby.
• 25% Nobel Prize winners played a musical instrument, 18 % drew or painted.
• Less than 1% of normal scientists had a hobby.

Can only creative people be geniuses?

• Not exactly. But creative thinking can help to solve scientific problems.
• Often the solution to a problem will come when you are not thinking about it - you are asleep, or doing something different (a hobby).
• The brain has the ability to make connections from one part of your life to another.
• People who are good at making these connections, who have creative hobbies and interests, often excel in their fields.