Creativity for Scientists and Engineers

A practical guide

By (author) Dennis Sherwood

Publication date:

11 October 2022

Length of book:

416 pages

Publisher

Institute Of Physics Publishing

Dimensions:

254x178mm
7x10"

ISBN-13: 9780750349659

All scientists and engineers are creative – you wouldn’t be a scientist or engineer if you weren’t. But can you be even more creative? Do you know how to develop creativity in those who are less confident? And how to build a team culture in which creativity flourishes? If those questions spark interest, then this book is for you. Presenting pragmatic and powerful processes for generating ideas, and for distinguishing good ideas from weak ones, the book explores the fundamental first principles on which creativity is based, as well as the organisational factors that need to be addressed for creativity to happen.
Filled with examples of creativity in science and engineering, and including a contributed chapter in which 13 contemporary scientists and engineers tell their own stories, this book is a practical ‘how to’ guide on how to have good ideas on demand, how to judge between good ideas and bad ones, and how to build a sustainable innovation culture. From gravitational waves to outreach, from safety on trains to how some cows in Kansas triggered an idea for noise reduction, the examples in this book are sure to stimulate individual and organisational creativity.
Key Features:

  • Provides a practical ‘how to’ guide on how to have good ideas 'on demand'
  • Shows how to identify, wisely, the best ideas
  • Presents down-to-earth strategies to increase scientific creativity
  • Includes stimulating case studies contributed by 16 leading scientists and engineers
  • Describes how to build a sustainable organisational culture in which creativity can flourish
  • Written by a world leader in creative consultancy

The book is a practical guide on how to have good, creative ideas on demand, and is filled with principles, examples and suggestions, which can be used both on an individual level and to improve organisational creativity.

The book is aimed predominantly at scientists and engineers and many of the examples and stories are relevant to these fields. However, the principles and practical guides could be applied by anyone.

The book is full of practical suggestions that are specific enough to be used in practice but also give lots of scope for individuals to personalise them. It helps the reader throughout with a variety of images as well as real-life examples, from the light bulb to the structure of DNA to Leonardo da Vinci; these alone make the book worth a read.

Colette Christian, School Science Review, March 2024