Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Discovery Research
Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Discovery Research
Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Professor of Physics, Harvard University
Meeting Link: https://jpl.webex.com/jpl/j.php?MTID=m370c456d424c79bb28030d0066310439
Meeting Number: 2761 272 1874
Research, particularly on the "discovery" end of the R&D spectrum, is complex and easily misunderstood. Scientific advance doesn't always precede, it often follows, engineering advance. Answering questions isn't always the goal, finding questions often is. We don't always seek to strengthen conventional wisdom, sometimes we seek to surprise it. What if we could rethink research so that its nurturing, through policy and management, harmonizes with its nature? Join us for a talk by Venky on his new book with Jeff Tsao, "The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions" (Harvard University Press, Nov 2021) addressing this question.
Venkatesh Narayanamurti is Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Physics Emeritus at Harvard University. He was formerly: Director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School (2009-2015); John L. Armstrong Professor and Founding Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor of Physics and Dean of Physical Sciences at Harvard (1998-2009); Dean of the UCSB College of Engineering (1992-1998); VP of Research at Sandia National Laboratories (1987-1992); and researcher then Director of the Solid State Electronics Research Laboratory at Bell Labs (1968-1987). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the U.S National Academy of Engineering, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and of the World Academy of Sciences. He is also co-author, with Professor Tolu Odumosu (James Madison University), of "Cycles of Invention and Discovery" (Harvard University Press, 2016).
This Distinguished Speaker Series talk is sponsored by the JPL Offices of the Chief Scientist and Chief Technologist.