is it just me, or does it seem that A LOT of professors like hiking?

Graduate School
#1

<p>Like, quite a few professor personal pages have pictures of hiking excursions. It seems to be the typical hobby that the professor engages in.</p>

<p>And what is the lifestyle of your typical professor anyways? Even though science is reputed to be quite rigorous and demand long hours, it still seems that most professors have families and come home every day. Is it true that nearly all professors come home every day? (I don't plan on doing that). And do most professors cook every day?</p>

<p>Also, ahem, do graduate students (or professors) ever sleep in their offices? (or in say, the undergraduate library) Is that behavior tolerated? I mean, going to home every day is often pointless if you don't have a family.</p>

<p>Just how common is the professor who doesn't have a family, who is on the computer most of the time, and who doesn't really care about his own home? Paul Erdos is an extreme example, but I'm looking for less extreme examples. It seems that most professors are fairly neurotypical outside of their academic interests.</p>

<p>I don't think you have to go to meetings every day - so one could forgo showering during those days. It seems that the stereotype of those who stay in their labs, don't take showers, get diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and don't have families are disproportionately programmers, rather than research scientists, even though the research scientist career seems ideal for that type. Why is that the case?</p>

#2

<p>Are you serious...?</p>

#3

<p>Yes. Paul Erdos, Henry Cavendish, Isaac Newton, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Nikola Tesla really did exist. I'm somewhat less extreme than they are, but can subsist on a diet of bread, vitamins, and modafinil.</p>

<p>But where have all of the eccentric types gone? I mean, look at all of the recent Nobel laureates. None of them resemble any of the abovementioned types at all. And none of the professors I've met are non-neurotypical at all. </p>

<p>I've seen the University of Washington campus (and individual buildings) in the middle of the night. Professors are like, never in their offices. I doubt that they do that much of their research at home. Meanwhile, I've heard of how the computer lab of the Microsoft lab in China is always crowded, even in the middle of the night.</p>

<p>Besides, I'm still trying to decide whether I'm more suited for academia or the computer industry.</p>

<p>drbott can confirm my existence and my views.</p>

#4

<p>Were you serious about having computer games replacing your family because of coming AI technology? I see you edited that part out after I posted.</p>

#5

<p>
[quote]
Were you serious about having computer games replacing your family because of coming AI technology? I see you edited that part out after I posted.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Somewhat, depending on whether I'm consumed enough in my work to have a hobby or not (though it could also be research in another field, though I'll probably use computer games if i really want to wind down and stop thinking for a while), and depending on how future computer games turn out (I'm not impressed with the current ones, but I am somewhat more optimistic about the future). I definitely am not going to have a family. Also, there really is a blur between computer games and simulation.</p>

#6

<p>Speaking of which, math professors probably do some of their work at home (though I don't know to what extent they do). Nonetheless, there are other types of research where it's difficult to carry all of the equipment home. And the current academic environment seems to be one in which people don't do their research at home, but rather, at the institution. Though the Internet may change all of this, there still are few signs of such change.</p>

<p>And taking the time and hassle to commute every day isn't really necessary anyways, unless you have some other values/comforts to fulfill. Why do people sleep on beds, anyways? It could be cleanliness, but one can gain the same cleanliness with a sleeping bag.</p>

<p>People do scientific research not for the money. It's for the sheer love of learning what they're doing. I would expect that a portion of the subgroup would be more likely than average to care little about other material comforts - such as "good food", sleeping on beds, sex, family, or property for a purpose unrelated to storage.</p>

<p>The book Survival Skills for Scientists mentions that "you should expect to work long hours, perhaps even spend many weekends working (especially if you work in academia), and hopefully you should take pleasure in it. Generally speaking, this is not the type of job in which you work from 9 to 5 each working day and then go home, forget about all your problems at work and concentrate on your family and hobbies. A completely free weekend may be a rarity."</p>

<p>I'd at least expect some of those scientists to stay in their labs over the night, at least on some nights...</p>

#7

<p>I think people getting all goggly eyed about computers replacing social/family life should try out an MMORPG for a couple days. Actually, no, you probably shouldn't - don't want to wreck any careers here. But honestly, it's already happening now to a degree. 10-20 years down the line with full sensory immersion? fugghedabbatit.</p>

<p>Anyway, back to hiking.</p>

#8

<p>Inq:</p>

<p>You really need to grow up and meet and talk to people. If you don't, you will miss out on a lot in your life. </p>

<p>Every professor I know either has a family or some sort of social life, it is imperative to keep yourself grounded. Why? Well, if for nothing else, to be able to relate to people and socialize at conferences! It is essential for scientists to get others opinions at conferences, both at the conference and at social events tied to the conference (such as cocktail parties).</p>

<p>Many scientists (i.e. professors, since that's how you apparently define 'scientist') do have families and are an active member in their family unit. They go home every night and come in on the weekends when they need to. Their lives do not revolve around science and can talk about other subjects and have other interests. It's the only healthy way to do things!</p>

<p>I am going to have a family (and am getting married in 10 days). This may affect my ability to become a full tenured professor, not because it's a family, but because I'm a female who wants to have biological children before the age of 40!</p>

<p>As for sleeping in their offices, I know of one student who slept in his office for a semester last year. It wasn't because he was a work hound, he was just too cheap to keep an apartment (he preferred being able to purchase beer)! I also know one professor who has a futon in his office so he can nap during the day or read papers more comfortably, he doesn't stay there overnight! Some professors feel more comfortable working overnight than during the day, so they arrange their schedules that way.</p>

<p>I can't comment on the hiking perspective, as a geologist, everyone hikes for both their work and pleasure, so I have a biased view.</p>

<p>As for the MMORPG thing, don't get hooked on them...I was into that for a couple of years and realized what I was missing out on not truly socializing during my undergraduate years.</p>

#9

<p>I've got to heartily agree with ophiolite. There isn't much room nowadays for the Erdos type of professor anymore. Not when there is so much competition for professorships--why work with an antisocial nutcase (admittedly brilliant) when there's a sociable and also brilliant other colleague to choose instead?</p>

<p>Very few people will encourage the type of obsessive reclusive behavior you are suggesting (playing MMORPGs constantly, deliberately avoiding social contact with other people, esp. a significant other). It's just not good for your psyche and it will often interfere with your productivity. I've been told that often the most productive scientists are the ones who have healthy outside lives. Because they are the ones who have the most motivation to get their goals straight and get things done in the best and most efficient way possible while maximizing their gains. Also there is something to be said for the outside perspective that having friends and maybe even a family will give to your work.</p>

<p>The majority of math professors I know of (and I go to school at possibly one of the best known places for math in the world) are married and have kids.</p>

<p>Even they recognize that there is more to life than "work" and they seek that balance.</p>

#10

<p>
[quote]
Speaking of which, math professors probably do some of their work at home (though I don't know to what extent they do). Nonetheless, there are other types of research where it's difficult to carry all of the equipment home. And the current academic environment seems to be one in which people don't do their research at home, but rather, at the institution. Though the Internet may change all of this, there still are few signs of such change.

[/quote]
As Sandor Kovacs said at a reception last year, in math more than in any other subject, you don't need to be sitting at a desk in order to be working. Remember when Steven Smale said that his best work was done on the beaches of Rio?</p>

<p>
[quote]
I've got to heartily agree with ophiolite. There isn't much room nowadays for the Erdos type of professor anymore. Not when there is so much competition for professorships--why work with an antisocial nutcase (admittedly brilliant) when there's a sociable and also brilliant other colleague to choose instead?

[/quote]
This might be irrational, but I want to believe that there will always be room for another Erdos.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Very few people will encourage the type of obsessive reclusive behavior you are suggesting (playing MMORPGs constantly, deliberately avoiding social contact with other people, esp. a significant other). It's just not good for your psyche and it will often interfere with your productivity. I've been told that often the most productive scientists are the ones who have healthy outside lives. Because they are the ones who have the most motivation to get their goals straight and get things done in the best and most efficient way possible while maximizing their gains. Also there is something to be said for the outside perspective that having friends and maybe even a family will give to your work.</p>

<p>The majority of math professors I know of (and I go to school at possibly one of the best known places for math in the world) are married and have kids.</p>

<p>Even they recognize that there is more to life than "work" and they seek that balance.

[/quote]
Frankly, I think that it's not super useful to dissect motivation for science, and what the best familial structure for a professor would be. If you want to do science, then do it; if you want, you can have a family, and if not, then you can not have a family.</p>

#11

<p>I'm just doing a master's degree right now, but I'm hoping to get a PhD afterwards and have thought I'd like to be a professor eventually - if things work out. As a prof, I'd expect to come home every night though, even if my family were only to consist of a couple of dogs (not being sarcastic - I love dogs).
I haven't heard of all that many profs going hiking as a hobby. I've heard of more than one, though, who go biking with their spouses. Another one said she played tennis regularly during her lunch hour. I think it all depends, but I think it's good to have some kind of hobby or physical activity that's not related to academics.
I think just about all of the professors in my department are married. Some are on their second marriages. Most of them have had at least one kid. They actually seem like fairly typical people for the most part, other than that they had the opportunity, the intelligence, and the motivation to get PhD's and to obtain faculty positions.</p>

<p>There are, of course, some people who never even get a bachelor's degree and who work at low-paying jobs, yet who never have families of their own. I've met people like that, who had neither a family nor a real career. </p>

<p>To me it has always seemed that, in general, one doesn't need to choose between a rigorous career (such as a lawyer, doctor, or professor) and a family. Many people have both, some have one but not the other, and some people have neither.</p>

#12