Medawar zone
Encyclopedia
The Medawar Zone is a the area of problem
s which are most likely to produce fruitful results. Problems that are too simple are unlikely to produce novel or significant results. Problems that are too ambitious may not succeed at all or may be rejected by the research community at large. This is illustrated in the figure:
In an article on creativity in research, Craig Loehle named this zone after Sir Peter Medawar
, a Nobel prize
-winning medical researcher who was active from the 40s to the 60s. In The Art of the Soluble, Medawar suggested that there seems to be a certain time when scientific questions seem especially ripe for answering, whereas other questions remain elusive and out-of-reach from investigation.
Problem
A problem is an obstacle, impediment, difficulty or challenge, or any situation that invites resolution; the resolution of which is recognized as a solution or contribution toward a known purpose or goal...
s which are most likely to produce fruitful results. Problems that are too simple are unlikely to produce novel or significant results. Problems that are too ambitious may not succeed at all or may be rejected by the research community at large. This is illustrated in the figure:
In an article on creativity in research, Craig Loehle named this zone after Sir Peter Medawar
Peter Medawar
Sir Peter Brian Medawar OM CBE FRS was a British biologist, whose work on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance was fundamental to the practice of tissue and organ transplants...
, a Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning medical researcher who was active from the 40s to the 60s. In The Art of the Soluble, Medawar suggested that there seems to be a certain time when scientific questions seem especially ripe for answering, whereas other questions remain elusive and out-of-reach from investigation.