"Pioneers in science only rarely make discoveries by extracting ideas from pure
mathematics. Most of the stereotypical photographs of scientists studying rows
of
equations on a blackboard are instructors explaining discoveries already made.
Real progress comes in the field writing notes, at the office amid a litter of 
doodled paper, in the hallway struggling to explain something to a friend, 
or eating lunch alone. Eureka moments require hard work. And focus."

E.O.Wilson, NYTimes 5 April 2013
Great Scientist ≠ Good at Math
E.O. Wilson shares a secret: Discoveries emerge from ideas, not
number-crunching
____________________________________________________________________________

"Biomathematics is not merely a new application for existing mathematical
methods. You can't just pull an established mathematical technique off the
shelf and put it to use.  Biology requires - indeed demands - entirely new
mathematical concepts and techniques, and it raises new and fascinating
problems for mathematical research.
   If the main driving force behind new mathematics in the twentieth century was
the  physical sciences, in the twenty-first century it will be the life
sciences."

Ian Stewart.  The Mathematics of Life.  Basic Books.  2011.


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