I've been thinking lately about what personal characteristics are needed to succeed in academic science today. What does it take to publish top papers, win lots of grants and reach the top of the profession?
Many people would point to scientific ability, in other words the cognitive abilities needed to understand scientific concepts, design experiments, write papers and so on. In fact, to non-scientists, I suspect that ability seems like the most important factor in determining scientific success. Surely someone who is very good at science will end up doing very well in science?
But ability isn't all you need. I think that personality and emotional make-up is at least as important. Let's call this factor temperament.
To succeed in science requires hard, sustained work and hence calls on one's mental discipline. That, of course, is true of many jobs, but what I think makes science particularly demanding is that ...
