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How to be Creative

"In creativity research, we refer to the three bs - for the bathtub, the bed 
and the bus - places where ideas have famously and suddenly emerged", says R. 
Keith Sawyer, author of 'Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human 
Innovation'.  When we take time off from working on a problem, we change what 
we are doing and activate our brain...Take risks, expect to make lots of 
mistakes, because creativity is a numbers game.  Work hard and take frequent 
breaks, but stay with it over time.  Do what you love, because creativity 
breakthroughs take lots of hard work.  Develop a network of colleagues, and 
schedule time for free-wheeling unstructured discussions.  Most of all forget 
those romantic myths that creativity is all about being artsy and gifted and 
not about hard work"                            Globe and Mail, Jan 27, 2006.

Great Eureka Moments in History

In 1907, at age 28, Einstein was working in the patent office in Bern, 
Switzerland when by his own account, a "breakthrough came one day."  Instead 
of keeping his mind on his work, his thoughts wandered to, "If a man falls 
freely, he would not feel his weight."  Einstein's response to his thought 
was immediate: "I was taken aback.  This simple thought experiment made a 
deep impression on me."  By linking accelerated motion and gravity, Einstein 
eventually created his masterwork, the general theory of relativity.  However 
it took him eight years to work through the mathematical details.
                                  
                                  University of Toronto Magazine  Autumn 2005

Being surrounded by people who actually have made discoveries of note is 
hugely important to making discoveries of note," says John Polyani, Nobel 
Prize laureate.  Such minds can serve not only as an inspiration, but also as 
a reality check.  "It is part of the process of discovery that you need to 
have razor-sharp people around, to prevent you from fooling yourself into 
thinking you've solved something." he says.

At U of T, visionary planners are designing new facilities that will bring 
together razor-sharp people from particular disciplines as well as top 
researchers from allied but distinct disciplines, giving them new 
opportunities to interact ... It will feature an innovative open concept 
design - lots of glass and open spaces - to encourage "scientific mingling"...

Exposing students to more than just what's between the covers of their 
textbooks is a clearly desirable goal...Bill Buxton, a designer and 
consultant who has taught in U of T's computer science department and still 
advises graduate students, believes there's a real danger in having young 
people narrowly focus their studies.  He says that Canadian Nobel Prize 
winners almost all "have a near-professional competence in something outside 
what they won the Nobel Prize for."  At least two of the winners in chemistry 
and medicine, for example, have significant talent in art and theatrical 
writing - "precisely the types of programs which are being cut from the 
school system," say Buxton.    
        excerpts from "Eureka", University of Toronto Magazine, Autumn 2006

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