The above example by R. Feynman on a comprehensive view or a broad knowledge of a true scientist was on the beauty of a flower. While looking at a flower, there will be many related issues coming into a scientist’s mind that would inspire his/her pondering. However, the original discussion started from the poet Bai, Juyi (白居易) who made careful observations while standing at the seashore and arrived at a scientific conclusion on the behavior of ocean waves (“一重浪灭一重生”). Feynman’s example was nice but can we also provide an example of what a scientist would think about in addition to ocean waves while standing on the seashore? There is a good book on my bookshelves that gives the answer to this question:

Trefil, J., 1984: A Scientist at the Seashore. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 208 pp.

There are 14 chapters in the book that discuss many different but related topics:

1. Look at All That Water

2. The Salt Salt Sea

3. The Tides

4. The Search for Planet X

5. The Back of the Moon

6. Making Waves

7. The Surf

8. Bubbles in the Foam

9. The Shape of the Wave

10. Queen Anne’s Pudding

11. Of Beaches and Baseballs

12. Castles in the Sand

13. Sailing Ships and Skeletons

14. Skipping Stones.

I argued above that the Lighthill’s text gave a vivid description on the behavior of deep-water waves observed by a Chinese poet Bai, Juyi (白居易：772–846) shown in his well-known poem (“一重浪灭一重生”). This is an interesting example showing that sometimes a poet or an artist, through his careful observations to a natural phenomenon, is able to draw insightful scientific conclusions. Of course, in my opinion, the major difference between an artist and a scientist on scientific research or knowledge is that the former generally possesses, if any, only sporadic knowledge whereas a true scientist sees and thinks the world comprehensively, systematically, and logically. A well-known example is given by physicist Richard Feynman’s view on the beauty of a flower:

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Feynman, R. P., 1988: “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” Further Adventures of a Curious Character. Penguin Books Canada Ltd, Ontario, 255 pp.

I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say "look how beautiful it is," and I’ll agree. But then he’ll say "I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing." I think that he’s kind of nutty.

First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. Although I might not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is, I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. But at the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I can imagine the cells inside, which also have a beauty. There’s beauty not just at the dimension of one centimeter; there is also beauty at a smaller dimension.

There are the complicated actions of the cells, and other processes. The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means that insects can see the color. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life? There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts.

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