The Role of Motivation in Scientific Research

Abstract

Motivation strongly influences a person's path through life in many ways, affecting, for example, the direction of education, choice of profession and the overcoming of difficulties that everyone has to face. The setting of high goals and highest personal standards and the need for hard work and dedication in accomplishing almost anything worthwhile are matters of concern and are inextricably associated with personal motivation. It is emphasised that much satisfaction can be derived from setting high goals and staying with them and from one's own accomplishments, whether or not recognition occurs. High recognition is a rare occurrence and there are many deserving people who do not achieve it in the course of their lifetime.The apparent consequences of our own personal motivations are illustrated by a description of an area of our scientific interests, namely, the determination of atomic arrangements in crystals by the analysis of X-ray diffraction data. A number of results of X-ray analyses are presented which show the value of such analyses to the progress of chemical science. Among the substances described are products of photo rearrangement reactions, a detoxifying drug, a powerful plant growth hormone and a natural analgesic. These applications illustrate the derivation of the molecular formula and stereo configuration of natural products, particularly those for which only a minute quantity of purified material is available, and the folding and conformational properties of oligopeptides.