Step across this line : experiences in interdisciplinarity

Lecture at the PRISM group meeting

Transcript

1. ‘Step across this line’ : experiences in interdisciplinarity. Ronojoy Adhikari The Institute of Mathematical Sciences
2. Indus Urbanisation, with K. Gangal Current Science 2010 Eigenspectra of Indian drums, with G. Sathej Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009 Indus script, with Rajesh Rao et al. Science 2009 PNAS 2009 Plos One 2010 Stochastic epidemics, with Somdeb Ghose Phys. Rev. E 2010
3. Indus Urbanisation, with K. Gangal Current Science 2010 Eigenspectra of Indian drums, with G. Sathej Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009 Indus script, with Rajesh Rao et al. Science 2009 PNAS 2009 Plos One 2010 Stochastic epidemics, with Somdeb Ghose Phys. Rev. E 2010
4. Indus Urbanisation, with K. Gangal Current Science 2010 Eigenspectra of Indian drums, with G. Sathej Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009 Indus script, with Rajesh Rao et al. Science 2009 PNAS 2009 Plos One 2010 Stochastic epidemics, with Somdeb Ghose Phys. Rev. E 2010 Normal modes Liquid correlations Brownian motion Statistical entropy
5. The unity of science "Now this is the peculiarity of the scientific method, that when once it has become a habit of mind, that mind converts all facts whatsoever into science. The field of science is unlimited; its material is endless, every group of natural phenomena, every phase of social life, every stage of past or present development is material for science. The unity of all sciences consists alone in its method, not in its material. The man who classifies facts of any kind whatever, who sees there mutual relation and describes their sequences, is applying the scientific method and is a man of science. The facts may belong to the past history of mankind, to the social statistics of our great cities, to the atmosphere of the most distant stars, to the digestive organs of a worm, or to the life of a scarcely visible bacillus. It is not the facts themselves which form science, but the methods by which they are dealt with."
6. How do we acquire the scientific method ? Achieve mastery over one raga, mastery over many will follow. -Ustad Allauddin Khan Physics is arguably the best training ground for learning the quantitative scientific method. More parochially, it is condensed matter physics.
7. ‘Step across this line’ • Data is not dirty! Learn good statistics, be a Bayesian. • You have a hammer, but not all problems are nails! Learn new techniques if the problem so demands. • Give credit where it is due! Set your work in context and cite previous authors who worked in the area.