But this pattern can be broken by unexpected breakthroughs. Most of the time, in other words, scientists occupy themselves with their longstanding research programs, driven by a phenomenon first described by Johannes Kepler four centuries ago in a different context: inertia. As Louis Pasteur said: “ chance favors only the prepared mind.” The fortunate emergence of related observational data at around the same time precipitated an exciting research frontier. But this early paper sparked ideas for follow-up research, leading to seven additional papers that constituted Nick’s entire PhD thesis and defined the focus of his subsequent career. Our plan was that he would move on to other research areas afterwards. For example, in our first paper, my former graduate student, Nick Stone, chose to study what looked like an esoteric but fascinating problem: the disruption of a star that passes too close to a black hole. Most often, scientific projects do not stem from extensive brainstorming sessions. In an attempt to cut short a brainstorming session with my collaborators, I joked recently that “we should stop exploring new research ideas before they turn into too much work.”
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