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Birds vs Frogs

12 October 2004

I recently finished reading a lovely book called The Music of the Primes by the master number theorist and great communicator Marcus du Sautoy. On pages 264-265 of that book I read an interesting opinion attributed to the mathematician, physicist and writer Freeman Dyson that originates from this piece. Freeman Dyson mentions the metaphor that divides scientists into two groups: Birds, who look down upon everything and have a God's-eye view of the world, and frogs, who spend their time in the mud. The renowned Princeton physicist calls himself a frog. He says: "I'm not against the first group, but they take an exalted view of science. Frogs typically enjoy exploring things locally and developing skills."

I admire the birds that are able to see grand connections across the landscape of our field, and have definite and far reaching research goals. For good or for worse, I myself am definitely a frog.