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Title
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Visual and physiological optics : where will the journey lead us in 10 years?
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Author
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Abstract
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| When setting off on a journey of discovery it often helps to have a sense of direction, a particular goal or a coveted treasure that makes all the hardships on the way to get there worthwhile. In science these treasures often come in the form of understanding, built up one tiny gold piece of insight at a time. But unlike the stories of Tolkien, the protagonists of a scientific journey cannot just set out blindly towards a vaguely‐described goal without bothering about things such as finances. Instead, each step along the way must be considered carefully before it hits the ground, while thinking ahead two or three paces, as resources are scarce and funding agencies insist each step should have a reasonable chance of success. Each step may also turn out to be in the wrong direction, or, if you are very lucky, a leap straight for the gold. Consequently these journeys are often slow, with people dedicating an entire PhD to a single step. One can imagine that under these circumstances individual travellers may lose sight of the final goal ahead. But, luckily, in science we do not walk the entire journey by ourselves. As Bernard of Chartres and Isaac Newton both suggested, we are carried on the shoulders of our forebears until it is time to make our own steps, in the hope one of us will eventually reach the treasure of understanding. In that context it is good to stop sometimes and to look at the scenery of where we are now and all the places we may go. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Ophthalmic and physiological optics. - Guildford
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Publication
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Guildford
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2017
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ISSN
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0275-5408
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DOI
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10.1111/OPO.12384
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Volume/pages
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37
:3
(2017)
, p. 235-239
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ISI
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000400011900001
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (open access)
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Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
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