How to succeed in science
David Eisner
not a self-help book
Definition of “succeed”
To achieve the desired aim
Proverb:
“Nothing succeeds like success”
success is
 important research
 published and read in papers
 changes the way we think
What success is not
metrics
 Impact Factors
 H-factor
 etc
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (NMR imaging))
And as an ultimate plea, the personal wish of the author remains to
send all bibliometrics and its diligent servants to the darkest
omnivoric black hole that is known in the entire universe, in order
to liberate academia forever from this pestilence. –
And there is indeed an alternative: Very simply, start reading papers
instead of merely rating them by counting citations!
What success is not
metrics
helps to have a few papers in classy journals…….
 Impact Factors
 H-factor
 etc
Peter Medawar
1915-1987
Nobel Prize in Physiology:
graft rejection and
immune tolerance
Am I Brainy Enough to Be a Scientist?
An anxiety that may trouble some novices, ……..is whether
they have brains enough to do well in science. It is an
anxiety they could well spare themselves, for one does not
need to be terrifically brainy to be a good scientist.
Common sense one cannot do without, and one would
be the better for owning some of those old-fashioned
virtues that seem unaccountably to have fallen into
disrepute. I mean application, diligence, a sense of
purpose, the power to concentrate, to persevere and not
be cast down by adversity…
persevere and not be cast down by adversity
• Experiments don’t work
• papers rejected
• grants or fellowships rejected
Be self-critical
• important for science
• but don’t take to extremes
• value your own work
• self-doubt
self-doubt (Shakespeare vs the Joker)
It's kind of a rule of thumb
for me to self-doubt going into
any kind of project. I always
“Our doubts are
traitors, and make us lose think that I shouldn't be doing
it and I don't know how to do it
the good we oft might
and I'm going to fail and that I
win, by fearing to
fooled them. I always try to
attempt.”
find a way out.
What should you work on?
Medawar – “the art of the soluble”
project needs to matter but:
must also be doable
(must also be fundable)
Why are you doing science?
• to help cure disease?
• To advance knowledge?
What would have happened if you had not
done your research?
Someone else would have done it:
tomorrow
next month
next year
Why are you doing science?
• You need to enjoy it
(and advance knowledge etc as a happy byproduct)
“Happy is he who gets to know
the reason for things”
Virgil (70-19 BC)
Personal life?
Become a hermit: plenty of time for science
My escape from hermitry
What do you want?
Work-life balance
Move towards independence
Develop your own projects
(while still taking advantage
of support from your
previous supervisors)
Get credit for your work
Are you first author?
Are you senior author?
Do you get to give seminars?
Talks at meetings?
building your own lab (1)
 stimulating & career building
 responsibilities (students, postdocs)
 satisfying (students, postdocs)
building your own lab (2)
How fast?
Will you continue “hands on”?
get a mentor
• someone you trust
• not your boss
and finally…..
….enjoy