Merry Newtonmas, everyone!

In the US, PhD students start without an advisor. As they finish their courses, different research groups make their pitch, trying to get them to join. Some promise interesting puzzles and engaging mysteries, others talk about the importance of their work, how it can help society or understand the universe.

Thinking back to my PhD, there is one pitch I remember to this day. The pitch was from the computational astrophysics group, and the message was a simple one: “we blow up stars”.

Obviously, these guys didn’t literally blow up stars: they simulated supernovas. They weren’t trying to make some weird metaphysical argument, they didn’t believe their simulation was somehow the real thing. The point they were making, instead, was emotional: blowing up stars feels cool.

Scientists can be motivated by curiosity, fame, or altruism, and these are familiar things. But an equally important motivation is a sense of play. If your job is to build tiny cars for rats, some of your motivation has to be the sheer joy of building tiny cars for rats. If you simulate supernovas, then part of your motivation can be the same as my nephew hurling stuffed animals down the stairs: that joyful moment when you yell “kaboom!”

Probably, your motivation shouldn’t just be to play with a cool toy. You need some of those “serious” scientific motivations as well. But for those of you blessed with a job where you get to say “kaboom”, you have that extra powerful reason to get up in the morning. And for those of you just starting a scientific career, may you have some cool toys under your Newtonmas tree!