This blogpost is a transcribe{sort of} of the Eureka Forum, which was an event organized by the The Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology to discuss the moments of sudden insight that are a defining but mysterious aspect of human thought.
A few speakers were invited to share their "Eureka Moments," including: Dr. John Pawelek (Yale School of Medicine), Dr. Susan Jerger (School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences), Dr. Wolfgang Rindler (Physics Department, School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics), Robert Xavier Rodríguez (composer, conductor, School of Arts and Humanities), and Dean Dennis Kratz (School of Arts and Humanities).
The purpose of writing this blog-post is because I wanted to share my experience at the event with those who couldn't make it.
Please note --> the text you find below might be entirely incoherent in certain places. In some places the in-cohesiveness is because of my lack of understanding of the area discussed and in other places because I couldn't capture the first account fast enough in writing. But I guess, whatever I've managed to capture does reflect the essence of the event.
The Eureka Forum
Dr. David Chanell (History Department, School of Arts and Humanities):
"Archimedes' Eureka moment is better a story than history.
Examples of Eureka moments -->
1. Sir Isaac Newton's Eureka moment: the force that caused the apple to fall straight to the earth.
2. James Watt: Watt's "eureka" moment suddenly came to him while he was taking a walk on Glasgow Green: he would create a vacuum in the condenser to suck the steam out of the cylinder by using an air pump. A working model was completed by 1765.
3. Eureka moment in the combined field of Electricity and Magnetic's {I couldn't catch the name of the inventor. Suppose it was Denis something. Not too sure!}: flowing electricity creates a magnetic field.
4. Charles Darwin: struggle for existence was the driving force behind evolution.
Some observations based on an insight into the history of Eureka moments -
1. They all happened when the scientists weren't actively involved in the center of problem solving i.e. they weren't present at the site of the research. However, they were actively engaged at all times.
Conclusion -->
Chance favors the prepared mind!
Big Idea --> Be Observant
2. Cause of the Eureka moments -- going back and forth between visual thinking and literal thinking.
Application --> our own little small Eureka moment {discover the arrow on the FedEx package}"
Dr. Wolfgang Rindler (Physics Department, School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics):
"Its hard to find an explainable Eureka moment.
Eureka moment --> In London, 1954...taught the relativity course...length contraction effect --
Length contraction, according to Hendrik Lorentz, is the physical phenomenon of a decrease in length detected by an observer in objects that travel at any non-zero velocity relative to that observer...example used to explain to the students...involved a fast walking man, represented by a rod, falling into a grate. It is assumed that the rod is entirely over the grate before the downward acceleration begins. The downward acceleration is simultaneous (in the grate frame of reference) and equally applied to each point in the rod....question asked by brilliant student, "From the perspective of the grate, the rod undergoes a length contraction and fits into the grate. However, from the perspective of the rod, it is the
grate undergoing a length contraction, through which it seems the rod is then too small to fall."
In fact, the downward acceleration of the rod, which is simultaneous in the grate's frame of reference, is not simultaneous in the rod's frame of reference. In the rod's frame of reference, the front of the rod is first accelerated downward, if left at that then would mean that the man would stub his toe against the grate. However, taken further, more and more of the rod is subjected to the downward acceleration, until finally the back of the rod is accelerated downward, this is because it takes time for the information of the hit to travel to the back of the rod and by the times its traveled, the rod's fallen in. This results in a bending of the rod in the rod's frame of reference. It should be stressed that, since this bending occurs in the rod's rest frame, it is a true physical distortion of the rod which will cause stresses to occur in the rod."
Dr. John Pawelek (Yale School of Medicine):
{Couldn't catch much of what he said, since it was more related to the field of medicine and hence missed out on the medical jargon}
Something about melanoma metastasis. Fusion of a cancer cell and a WBC (a hybrid cell) would cause it to move around the body. Because any other cell on its own cannot travel, and hence when they multiply they form a lump. {But I really couldn't quite catch what the discovery was, sorry.}
So yeh, his Eureka moment was establishing the relation between two totally disparate sources of information that already existed, but had just never been co-related
You can identify a Eureka moment because it gives you the confidence to keep striving to prove your idea no matter.
Dean Dennis Kratz (School of Arts and Humanities):
The moment you win a gold it stays with you forever.
What scientists and poets have in common is the ability to see connections in events that seem to others as separate.
Dr. Susan Jerger (School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences):
"
Eureka moments are defined by skills, newness and values.
skills - underlie our Eureka moments.
value of a Eureka moment - is not in getting the idea, but in implementing it.
Base of your success is what you know. Related to the analogy of the cook who discovered cake. That discovery was based on his knowledge of the ingredients.
story of The Merchant's Daughter --
{ending of the story}....so the cruel money lender picked up two black stones and placed it into the money bag. The merchant's daughter being quite quick-sighted, noticed that. Now the cruel merchant asked her to pick a stone from the bag. Her Eureka moment --> She put her hand in, picked a stone and as quickly as she'd picked it, she dropped it on the ground so it got mixed with the thousands of other stones. So she quickly said,"Oops! clumsy me. However, there is a way to verify what color stone I'd picked. We can just look into the bag to see the color left behind...{the readers might wanna find the entire story to understand this ending}"
Big Idea -->
shift your point of view from one part of the data to another part of the data."
Robert Xavier Rodríguez (composer, conductor, School of Arts and Humanities):
"Eureka moment in art can't be related to science because there are no specific moments to define or verify the end of it.
We dance round in a ring and suppose, / But the Secret sits in the middle and knows. -- Robert Frost
{To demonstrate the essence of the Eureka moment which really can't be described in words, he played an audio track titled "The Unanswered Question" by Charles Ives}
{Explaining the audio track}The answer and the question co-existed and the moments of doubt played in as the disrupting music.
We create a home for beauty and hope beauty will come there to dwell.
Being an artist is like so --
999 flights burst into flames at the end of the runway and just 1 takes flight. But you never know why the 999 crash.
His Eureka moment -- Why not have a 12 note row that is a circle of the fifth? {I'm sorry if I've expressed this wrong. It related to music, color referring to the difference in the sound, spectrum for the colors. I couldn't understand how to piece the three together}
Dr. John Pawelek (Yale School of Medicine):
{in continuation on the subject of artists}
Zen parable - to paint a painting of a bamboo...Study it, literally live with it...but, when you pick up your paint brush you have to forget everything you learnt...you have a subliminal preparedness...
Dean Dennis Kratz (School of Arts and Humanities):
was having a conversation with his wife on revenge, the whole 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' concept....that was his Eureka moment wherein he realized his entire dissertation was flawed....it was based on some medieval poetic material about three monks who get into a fight and then at the end of it have a drink and leave...he was never satisfied with his dissertation....after the Eureka realization, spent a lot of his time after disproving his dissertation claim....
Big Idea --> never ignore your dissatisfaction
the secret is how to turn noise into information...
Robert Xavier Rodríguez (composer, conductor, School of Arts and Humanities):
"When I write music I feel like a spectator (analogy --> trying to make an elephant. Cut away everything that does not look like an elephant). Do scientists have the same attitude?"
Dr. John Pawelek (Yale School of Medicine):
Yes, because at all times we are in a state of observance of our work.
Don't impose what you think you ought to find on what your finding.
Audience:
Did any of the Eureka moments happen early on in the career? {owing to the observation that the scientists on the panel were much older and also in general}
Mixed Responses the scientists:
Scholars, artists and scientists are troublemakers (in reference to common behavioral traits seen in this category of individuals as children)
Creativity when your young is important.
You follow rules when you can't think of anything else to do.
But we do as a society end up constraining children.
Dean Dennis Kratz (School of Arts and Humanities):
We, both, love and hate rules.
How many of us have broken the speed limit?
Edison in his workshop--
"We ain't got no rules around here. We are trying to accomplish something."
Robert Xavier Rodríguez (composer, conductor, School of Arts and Humanities):
There is a difference between rules and limitations...
In the old days of tapestry only 4 colors could be used and hence the craftsmen would get very innovative on how to mix the 4 colors to produce varieties. But then as technology advanced, slowly all colors could be used and then there were no limitations. So all innovation was lost...
Audience Member 1
You have to know the rules to break the rules...
Audience Member 2
Ripple effect of the Eureka moments in Egyptian history...
Dean Dennis Kratz (School of Arts and Humanities):
There can't be life without evolution and you can't have evolution without cancer. {In relation to Dr. Pawelek's research}
You can't have freedom without restriction....
THE END
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