Exceptional Creativity in Science and Technology: Individuals, Institutions, and Innovations

In the evolution of science and technology, laws governing exceptional creativity and innovation have yet to be discovered. In his influential study The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the historian Thomas Kuhn noted that the final stage in a scientific breakthrough such as Albert Einstein's theory of relativity—the most crucial step—was "inscrutable." The same is still true half a century later.   Yet, there has been considerable progress in understanding many stages and facets of exceptional creativity and innovation. In Exceptional Creativity in Science and Technology, editor Andrew Robinson gathers diverse contributors to explore this progress. This new collection arises from a symposium with the same title held at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton. Organized by the John Templeton Foundation, the symposium had the late distinguished doctor and geneticist Baruch S. Blumberg as its chair. At the same time, its IAS host was the well-known physicist Freeman J. Dyson—both of whom have contributed chapters to the book. In addition to scientists, engineers, and an inventor, the book's fifteen contributors include an economist, entrepreneurs, historians, and sociologists, all working at leading institutions, including Bell Laboratories, Microsoft Research, Oxford University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. Each contributor brings a unique perspective to the relationships between exceptional scientific creativity and innovation by individuals and institutions.   The diverse list of disciplines covered, the high-profile contributors (including two Nobel laureates), and their fascinating insights into this overarching question—how exactly do we make breakthroughs?—will make this collection of interest to anyone involved with the creative process in any context. Still, it will especially appeal to readers in scientific and technological fields.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Introduction / Andrew Robinson / 3 Chapter 1: The Rise and Decline of Hegemonic Systems of Scientific Creativity J. Rogers Hollingsworth and David M. Gear / 25 Chapter 2: Exceptional Creativity in Physics: Two Case Studies—Niels Bohr's Copenhagen Institute and Enrico Fermi's Rome Institute Gino Segrè / 53 Chapter 3: Physics at Bell Labs, 1949–1984: Young Turks and Younger Turks Philip W. Anderson / 71 Chapter 4: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge: The Physical Realization of an Electronic Computing Instrument at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1930–1958 George Dyson / 83 Chapter 5: Education and Exceptional Creativity: The Decoding of DNA and the Decipherment of Linear B Andrew Robinson / 99 Chapter 6: The Sources of Modern Engineering Innovation David P. Billington and David P. Billington Jr.  / 123 Chapter 7: Technically Creative Environments Susan Hackwood / 145 Chapter 8: Entrepreneurial Creativity Timothy F. Bresnahan / 163 Chapter 9: Scientific Breakthroughs and Breakthrough Products: Creative Activity as Technology Turns into Applications Tony Hey and Jonathan Hey / 191 Chapter 10: A Billion Fresh Pairs of Eyes: The Creation of Self-Adjustable Eyeglasses Joshua Silver / 211 Chapter 11: New Ideas from High Platforms: Multigenerational Creativity at NASA Baruch S. Blumberg / 227 Afterword: From Michael Faraday to Steve Jobs Freeman Dyson / 241 Contributors / 251 Index / 255

About the Author :
Andrew Robinson is a former literary editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement in London. He is the author of some twenty-five books in the arts and sciences published by trade and academic publishers, which have been translated into fifteen languages. They include the biographies The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris and Einstein: A Hundred Years of Relativity; and two studies of exceptional creativity in the arts and sciences: Sudden Genius? The Gradual Path to Creative Breakthroughs and Genius: A Very Short Introduction. His latest books are Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion and, The Scientists: An Epic of Discovery, with contributions from scientists, historians of science, and science writers. A King's Scholar of Eton College, he holds degrees from Oxford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and was a visiting fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, from 2006–10.

Review :
"Following a series of outstanding books on various aspects of the history of science, Andrew Robinson has now edited a fascinating work which explores the origins of some of the greatest scientific institutions in the world and their innovations which have changed all our lives and had a remarkable effect in boosting the economies of the countries in which they were developed.  While this fascinating story of the complex evolution of great science and its institutions will be of particular interest to the scientific community, given their great importance to all of us for the future it should attract a much broader audience in particular representing education, commerce, and politics.  I wish it all the success that it deserves."  —Sir David Weatherall, FRS, Regius Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford — -