SIR Isaac Newton formulated the laws of motion, which form the basis of classical mechanics. As a physicist, his only comparison is Albert Einstein. Being one of the two greatest scientists the world has ever produced, Newton used to say that all he was doing was “collecting pebbles on the shore of the sea called knowledge.” Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a great scholar of Bengal during the British period, is reported to have said something similar even though the vastness of his knowledge was compared to that of an ocean. As a schoolboy I found it very difficult to comprehend the meaning of “collecting pebbles on the shore of the sea called knowledge.” Our teacher explained that it was their modesty that had prompted them to say so.
In this part of the world, school students are required to memorise their lessons. Memorisation is considered to be a part and parcel of their learning process. The best student in the class is usually the one with the most brilliant memory. By memorising
textbooks on different subjects, students get a false impression that they are learning all that they need to know. Many students often brag among their friends about their so-called knowledge.
For any student who is hard-working, it is not very difficult to pass school examinations and graduate with reasonably good results through memorisation. Surely, he will face the first hurdle when he gets admission as a research student for a Master or a Ph.D. degree.
There is nothing to memorise for a research student. He is required to investigate a particular problem and find an acceptable solution. He proceeds step by step following a logical path. If he faces any difficulty and brings it to the notice of his supervisor, he will simply tell his student with a meaningful smile on his face: "This looks very interesting. I would like to see how you proceed and solve this problem.” The supervisor may give some hints but will do nothing more. The student must find a solution by himself.
The student will soon be shocked to discover that all he learned through memorisation is of no use to him. He now has to search the internet for references, run from one library to another to study the relevant topics and analyse the problem in order to find a solution. Here, he passes through the real phase of learning, not through memorisation, but through understanding. Any student who is basically intelligent can pass through this phase and earn a Master or a Ph. D. degree.
From personal experience I can say that the real learning process starts when he joins a university as a teacher after obtaining a higher degree. He must know the subject thoroughly in order to teach it, and be
prepared to answer any question the students may ask Even while teaching a known subject, he will discover many things he had studied before without understanding. He has to study the subject again seriously enough to understand it. Once he starts studying, he will come across many new unknown terms or topics. So he has to study more to learn the new topics.
He thus enters a circle dominated by an unknown and unexplored domain of knowledge. So, by trying to learn more he discovers how littie he knows. Finally, one fine morning, he will appreciate what Sir Isaac Newton and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar meant by “collecting pebbles on the shore of the sea called knowledge." I heard Prof. Abdus Salam, who won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979, explaining this in one of his lectures when he said: “We study to expand the horizons of our knowledge and ignorance.”
Academicians are conscious not only about the limitations of their knowledge but also about the vastness of their ignoranceignorant people are not. An ignorant person is also ignorant about his ignorance. Obviously, he thinks that he knows everything on earth. For this reason most ignorant people talk more than academicians do. They do not know that by talking more they simply expose their ignorance.
On many official functions, some of our political leaders are found delivering lectures on Tagore, Nazrul and similar topics while academicians listen to them. They seem to know more than the academicians do on such topics. They enjoy talking on all subjects and for long periods.
We also have a special breed of academicians who talk at seminars and television shows on all subjects with full confidence and authority. Unlike Newton and Vidyasagar, they seem to be floating on the sea of knowledge when they talk! They either have superhuman qualities to be knowledgeable on all subjects, or they deceive people on topics they do not know! They are not true academicians. True academicians are modest, like Newton and Vidyasagar, and they usually talk less. They prefer to listen to others in order to learn more.
Dr. Abdul Matin is a former Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.