Sustentabilidade

Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system

Peter Higgs: 'Today I wouldn't get an academic job. It's as simple as that'. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

The Guardian, Friday 6 December 2013

Peter Higgs, the British physicist who gave his name to the Higgs boson, believes no university would employ him in today's academic system because he would not be considered "productive" enough.

The emeritus professor at Edinburgh University, who says he has never sent an email, browsed the internet or even made a mobile phone call, published fewer than 10 papers after his groundbreaking work, which identified the mechanism by which subatomic material acquires mass, was published in 1964.

He doubts a similar breakthrough could be achieved in today's academic culture, because of the expectations on academics to collaborate and keep churning out papers. He said: "It's difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964."

Speaking to the Guardian en route to Stockholm to receive the 2013 Nobel prize for science, Higgs, 84, said he would almost certainly have been sacked had he not been nominated for the Nobel in 1980.

Edinburgh University's authorities then took the view, he later learned, that he "might get a Nobel prize – and if he doesn't we can always get rid of him".

Higgs said he became "an embarrassment to the department when they did research assessment exercises". A message would go around the department saying: "Please give a list of your recent publications." Higgs said: "I would send back a statement: 'None.' "

By the time he retired in 1996, he was uncomfortable with the new academic culture. "After I retired it was quite a long time before I went back to my department. I thought I was well out of it. It wasn't my way of doing things any more. Today I wouldn't get an academic job. It's as simple as that. I don't think I would be regarded as productive enough."

Higgs revealed that his career had also been jeopardised by his disagreements in the 1960s and 70s with the then principal, Michael Swann, who went on to chair the BBC. Higgs objected to Swann's handling of student protests and to the university's shareholdings in South African companies during the apartheid regime. "[Swann] didn't understand the issues, and denounced the student leaders."

He regrets that the particle he identified in 1964 became known as the "God particle".

He said: "Some people get confused between the science and the theology. They claim that what happened at Cern proves the existence of God."

An atheist since the age of 10, he fears the nickname "reinforces confused thinking in the heads of people who are already thinking in a confused way. If they believe that story about creation in seven days, are they being intelligent?"

He also revealed that he turned down a knighthood in 1999. "I'm rather cynical about the way the honours system is used, frankly. A whole lot of the honours system is used for political purposes by the government in power."

He has not yet decided which way he will vote in the referendum on Scottish independence. "My attitude would depend a little bit on how much progress the lunatic right of the Conservative party makes in trying to get us out of Europe. If the UK were threatening to withdraw from Europe, I would certainly want Scotland to be out of that."

He has never been tempted to buy a television, but was persuaded to watch The Big Bang Theory last year, and said he wasn't impressed.

- Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime (scientific American, October)
Freelance writer and meditation teacher Michael Taft has experienced his own version of cerebral congestion. “In a normal working day in modern America, there’s a sense of so much coming at you at once, so much to process that you just can’t deal...

- Universidade De Verão: Alterações Climáticas, Consumismo, Ética - Reflexões De Clive Hamilton
Artigos seleccionados- blogue Clive Hamilton The Ethical Foundations of Climate Engineeringby Clive Hamilton , July 2011 In the standard consequentialist view of climate ethics, the question of whether it is ethically justified intentionally to shift...

- Da Lista Dos 50 Melhores Blogues Nomeados Pelo Bioblogging, Seleccionei A Lista Dos Melhores Sobre Evolução
Biology and Evolution, Culture, Genomics [fonte: BioBlogging]DNA and You: Dr. Matt Mealiffe talks about the “intersection of genetics and your health.”Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You: This blog explores genetics as a medical tool and...

- Climate Activists Fast To Push Leaders To Sign Strong Deal At Copenhagen
John Vidal guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 November 2009 The promo video for the Climate Justice Fast Scores of environmental activists from five continents have begun a fast to put pressure on countries to agree a strong deal...

- Evolution - The Molecular Landscape Interview With Thomas Cech
Thomas Cech was raised and educated in Iowa (B.A. in chemistry from Grinnell College, 1970). He obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and then engaged in postdoctoral research in the department of biology at the...

Sustentabilidade