If you have the door to your office closed, you get more work done today and tomorrow, and you are more productive than most. But ten years later somehow, you dont quite know what problems are worth working on. Richard Hamming More Quotes by Richard Hamming More Quotes From Richard Hamming Beware of finding what you're looking for. Richard Hamming aphorism research science When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did [Claude Elwood] Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn't the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you. Richard Hamming small-problems errors tree One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Once you get your courage up and believe that you can do important problems, then you can. If you think you can't, almost surely you are not going to. Richard Hamming success believe thinking Science is composed of laws which were originally based on a small, carefully selected set of observations, often not very accurately measured originally; but the laws have later been found to apply over much wider ranges of observations and much more accurately than the original data justified. Richard Hamming data law science One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage. Richard Hamming characteristics scientist successful In mathematics we do not appeal to authority, but rather you are responsible for what you believe. Richard Hamming mathematics authority believe The real problem is what can man and machine do together and not in competition. Richard Hamming competition real men Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest. The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity. I don`t want to give you a rate, but it is a very high rate. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime. Richard Hamming opportunity two thinking He who works with the door open gets all kinds of interruptions, but he also occasionally gets clues as to what the world is and what might be important. Richard Hamming hard-work doors science Perhaps the central problem we face in all of computer science is how we are to get to the situation where we build on top of the work of others rather than redoing so much of it in a trivially different way. Richard Hamming differences hard-work science It may be said "In research, if you know what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it." In a sense, if the answer turns out to be exactly what you expected, then you have learned nothing new, although you may have had your confidence increased somewhat. Richard Hamming learning science knowledge If the prior distribution, at which I am frankly guessing, has little or no effect on the result, then why bother; and if it has a large effect, then since I do not know what I am doing how would I dare act on the conclusions drawn? Richard Hamming guessing results littles What are the important problems of your field? Richard Hamming important fields problem It is better to do the right problem the wrong way than the wrong problem the right way. Richard Hamming problem science way Mathematicians stand on each others' shoulders and computer scientists stand on each others' toes. Richard Hamming scientist toes computer I have tried, with little success, to get some of my friends to understand my amazement that the abstraction of integers for counting is both possible and useful. Is it not remarkable that 6 sheep plus 7 sheep makes 13 sheep; that 6 stones plus 7 stones make 13 stones? Is it not a miracle that the universe is so constructed that such a simple abstraction as a number is possible? To me this is one of the strongest examples of the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. Indeed, I find it both strange and unexplainable. Richard Hamming effectiveness simple numbers You can tell other people all the alibis you want. I don't mind. But to yourself try to be honest. Richard Hamming mind trying people Good teachers deserve apples; great teachers deserve chocolate. A favorite quotation, written in calligraphy on his office door. Richard Hamming apples doors teacher The emotion at the point of technical breakthrough is better than wine, women and song put together. Richard Hamming women wine together song If you want to think new thoughts that are different, then do what creative people do - get the problem reasonably clear and then refuse to look at any answers until you've thought the problem through carefully how you would do it, how you could slightly change the problem to be the correct one. Richard Hamming thoughts you change people
