Research.
Quick, what associations did you make? I’d venture to guess that either a beaker or a pipette crossed your mind, however briefly.
According to Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, “ Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.” Szent-Gyorgyi’s definition, not specific to any particular field of study, implies extended creative thought on a particular subject. “Research” for many, however, suggests little about creativity.
Why, then, does “research” conjure up images of lab coat-clad, microscope-using individuals, mainly in the fields of biology, chemistry or physics?