INTRODUCTION

Abstract

Most scientific research is, so to say, “mundane”; it is painstaking labor that requires much time, effort, study, skill, and indeed ingenuity, but it rarely involves revolutionary path-breaking, fundamental issues of Nature and her behavior or the attention of a wide audience and the concomitant glamor. The adjective “mundane” in this context should imply neither dullness nor diminution. Creativity and originality come out of this kind of research not less than from the more glorious studies. The daily basis on which much scientific work is carried out makes it neither less important nor less creative. Romantic notions of the isolated genius who exposes the great secrets of Nature by revelation, like the legendary story of Archimedes jumping out of the bath, are not confirmed by detailed studies. Despite what might sometimes be thought, mundane science can be an intriguing intellectual and practical enterprise, which, like the more glamorous stories in the history of science, involves among other things originality, surprises, and controversies.