Whether or not the actual mode of thought at a technical level is different, doing science has a great deal in common with other kinds of intellectual and creative activity. Yet these aspects of science have almost been totally neglected, Scientists unlike artists are not fascinated by the process of creation. Precisely because science is concerned with the external world and must deny the personal when it comes to judging the value of its products, there is no tradition of introspection and analysis. Whereas writers, musicians and painters think a great deal about the way they think, how the imagination is fuelled, and whence cometh their inspiration, these questions are seldom asked by, or of, scientists.
Nevertheless, there is no reason why one should not try to examine how scientists make their discoveries, even though those discoveries represent knowledge of a quite different kind to that emobodied in art. It is inconeivable that human emotions, failings, and beliefs do not impinge about the scientific process; that it is conducted in a vacuum, unaffected by external events.
-Lewis Wolpert, A Passion for Science
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