Season's Musings

Somewhere in the not-so-distant past I wrote about the kinds of research happening in the world. To save you the click-through, they are:

• R&D, leading to products
• research, leading to inventions
• Research, leading to discoveries

Traditionally, these are associated with some kind of timeframe:


All your base are belong to us

As you might have heard, the research and innovation branch of the synergetic colossus Alcatel-Lucent has now become part of the new and improved Bell Labs. Due to different processes, this creates a vector field that will influence our curve:


Before you think I imply that fundamental is the opposite of innovative, let me clarify:

• "fundamental" stresses the long term benefits of dealing with general principles rather than practical application
• "innovation" focuses on the short terms gains of the successful introduction into society of an invention.

But this is a narrow 1D view! At Bell Labs, we should strive to go beyond this; these two forces, when combined with creativity can change the topology of our output:


The message: Everything we do should and can have both short and long term gains.

After reading this, you might conclude I took too many happy pills. Should you care? No, since the most important message is yet to come ... when we perform an affine transformation to a new basis:

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year
(or Happy Yule, Hanukkah, Eid Mubarak, Kwanzaa or Rohatsu)

People you miss the most

Are often the ones that say they'll be missing you.

Here's a toast to a guy that really makes a difference. Continue doing so in Scotland.

Chinese Relativity Axiom 2.0

To copy a painting really well, you need to be a good painter, versed in the art. Hence, most art copycats specialize in one artist. Margins are huge. Occasionally, you become very rich.

To copy a recent CD/DVD really well, all you need is a good PC, with a state-of-the-art ripper. To make a decent buck, you invest in mass-replication hardware. Margins as slim. Occasionally, you can make a decent living (in China, anyway).

To copy a freely available scientific publication, and put your own name to it, you just have to be stupid - I guess. It will not make you rich. It will make you infamous.

For those of you that have have some time and can access the full papers, just go ahead and compare

1. Optics Express
* http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=86218
2. Journal of Physics
* http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1742-6596/48/1/004


If not, just read the first and compare it to the abstract of the second. Notice anything? "Pu" indeed. So:

No matter how great your triumph or how tragic your defeat, there's a finite chance that one out of one billion Chinese will copy it without a second thought.

P.S. Meanwhile, the Institute of Physics has done the right thing (tm).

Cute but useful ?

You might wonder about this picture - but it is sent to you courtesy of Shozu (see logotype). Cute. Check it out.

A better place ?

Intermezzo: 90 days in and counting.

I have previously mentioned my two professional passions: research and teaching. I also tried to give you some idea of the difference I see right now between my past and my future, research-wise (very little and all positive). But what about teaching? Will I Am I missing the contact with new students, these first months of the academic year? Does a bear poo [1] in the woods?

Teaching is very much part of my core. Be it an theoretical course or a practical session, it does a great job of keeping me warm and fuzzy. Wrapped in the very fabric of the field, I can reach out and connect. I have always imagined that few things are more satisfying than the development (pun intended - read the previous posts) of a course from scratch. To inspire students and give them a foundation to build on. To rise and never fall. To boldly go... Let it be clear: the opportunity to teach can make me put up with a lot (but only so much). It also forces one to keep the fundamental truths of the chosen path in mind.

The current views on higher (college, university or should that be universal) education are being twisted by strategic planning. Somehow, even the shortest introduction to a field has to have "finality" and direct application to some industrial problem when the student graduates. Value in the job market. These values are, unfortunately, not in favour of the great teachers becoming renowned higher educators. Paranoia? Maybe. Even more unfortunately, they are also not in favour of great researchers becoming great teachers. It makes them become managers. The world does not need more managers.

Recently, someone asked me why people with a physics background seemed to fit into the telecom world so easily, no matter what their original field. Helloooooo ? In the spirit of the great Balmer, all together now

Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, ...

Let this be a plea to all the teachers in higher education: teach the truths, not the worn down tracks ! End of idealistic rant (who needs coherence in a blog post anyway?).

[1] More about about poo/Poo/Pu in a later post.