The usefulness of useless knowledge Theoretical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf discusses the importance of curiosity-based research
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BY EDWARD DADSWELL
n 1878, Dutch chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff gave a lecture titled ‘Imagination in Science’. In it, van ’t Hoff described his researches into the biographies of more than 200 famous scientists, looking for signs of artistic inclinations among them, which he considered a sign of a healthy imagination. He also looked for evidence of a diseased imagination, such as an interest in superstition or spiritualism, or a tendency towards insanity. In this category, van ’t Hoff placed some of science’s biggest names, including Ampère, Davy, Descartes, Leibniz, and Newton. It’s an example that theoretical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf uses in his Science and Society Forum seminar, on the ‘Usefulness of Useless Knowledge’. When I speak to him after the seminar, Dijkgraaf emphasises again the importance of imagination and curiosity in science – along with the deadening effect that education can sometimes have, by encouraging people to think in established ways. “Our whole education is a process of confrontation between our imagination and the reality of established facts,” he says. “I think the greatest scientists have such an intense curiosity that
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they’re not discouraged by the current practice of the field, and they push the boundaries of knowledge.”
Art and science
This effect of education is something Dijkgraaf himself is familiar with. While completing his undergraduate studies in physics, he became disillusioned with the way the subject was taught and began taking more and more time to pursue another of his interests: painting. “At some point my wife said, ‘Robbert, I see you painting all day and I don’t see you doing any calculations. Perhaps you’re doing the wrong thing,’” he explains. Realising she was right, he ended up spending two years studying art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. It was only after taking some time away from physics that his interest in the subject revived. “I still remember the day I walked into a bookstore and felt, ‘Wow, I can read a physics book again!’” says Dijkgraaf. Despite returning to physics, he’s clear how much the experience of studying art has helped him. “This detour through art school was actually a shortcut in my development as a researcher,” he says. One thing he discovered was the importance