How Scientific Breakthroughs Never Happen Alone

1927 Solvay Conference on Quantum Mechanics. From back to front and from left to right : Auguste Piccard, Émile Henriot, Paul Ehrenfest, Édouard Herzen, Théophile de Donder, Erwin Schrödinger, Jules-Émile Verschaffelt, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Ralph Howard Fowler, Léon Brillouin, Peter Debye, Martin Knudsen, William Lawrence Bragg, Hendrik Anthony Kramers, Paul Dirac, Arthur Compton, Louis de Broglie, Max Born, Niels Bohr, Irving Langmuir, Max Planck, Marie Skłodowska Curie, Hendrik Lorentz, Albert Einstein, Paul Langevin, Charles-Eugène Guye, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Owen Willans Richardson

By Tom Hasker, Associate Partner, Lighthouse International

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”

– Albert Einstein

Science is all about asking questions, trying it out and finding answers so that you ask more questions again! A key part of this process is having your work checked by people who have done similar things before – to make sure you’re on the right track, it’s called Peer Review. This naturally causes some problems because if you’re working on something that’s never been done before and you encounter effects so strange that no-one, not even you, really understands it – how can it be peer reviewed?

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“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

– Issac Newton (in 1676)

Recently, a new form of rocket engine called an ‘EM Drive‘ has been tested and if it works it would be ideal for powering a whole new generation of space vehicle! What is special about an EM Drive is that it appears to defy the laws of physics by generating thrust in one direction without pushing anything out the back like a rocket does. It is due to this strange effect, that any research done on the engine has always been in questionable.

This article from Forbes describes that the experiment has now been peer reviewed and this opens up the path for further research into the effects they have measured.

“With this new paper, we now have a clear overview of the experimental setup and its results. This is a big step toward determining whether the effect is real or an odd set of secondary effects.”

– Brian Koberlien / Forbes Contributor

Noticing if the results of the experiments are ‘secondary effects’ or completely new and never-before-seen science, is what working together interdependently is all about. As Issac Newton and Albert Einstein describe in their quotes, you need other people around you to keep you in check and help you to succeed, no matter what it is you are trying to do.

This article explains more about how to bring the right team together to achieve a successful outcome in the technology arena.

To make sure you get the right people on board, you can also learn from Anglea Ahrendts, the former Burberry CEO.