A Scientific Autobiography: An Attempt

For a professional writer, the publication of selected works or even a complete set of works in several volumes in the writer's lifetime is the norm (provided a willing publisher is found). Among scientists, however, selected works are very rarely printed during a scientist's life. The latest example that I know of is the two-volume set of Y.B. Zeldovich's selected works [1]. The main reason for this difference (this can hardly be doubted) is that typically novels, stories, and the like do not become obsolete; at any rate they remain attractive and interesting (I certainly mean only high-quality literature, not the mediocre or fly-by-night books that have often been published with enormous print runs). In contrast to this, scientific publications often overlap, they are developed and extended by later publications, or they are reflected in reviews, monographs, and textbooks. Nevertheless, a publication of collected scientific works cannot be regarded as unnecessary. (Of course, quality is the issue, but I again mean important papers, important at least at the time of their publication). There is no need to prove this when a great scientist is involved, but physicists and other scientists of lesser rank also often accomplish a great deal of very useful work in their lifetime. It would be convenient to be able to read their papers without browsing through old journals. For this reason, and also as a tribute to the author, numerous selected works are published posthumously. Assuming all this, isn't it legitimate for an author to take part in the publication of his or her own selected works while still in this world? It appears that such attempts are deemed immodest; besides, very few rise to the occasion and undertake this time-consuming job. On the other hand, a publication with the author's participation should, in general, be of much higher quality than a posthumous one. To make a long story short, I had nothing against Zeldovich publishing his collected works. When he presented the two volumes to me, he said something like, ‘You’ll reach 70 soon too, so follow my example.' And then he added: ‘This absorbed two years of my life.’ No doubt, Y.B. had not devoted two years exclusively to compiling, editing, and commenting on his publications [1], but all this definitely demanded a huge amount of work. Quite a few others were also involved in this effort. I confess that Ya.B.'s advice seemed very seductive at the time. Summing things up is quite natural, once you reach a certain age. However, I soon rejected the idea of publishing my own collected works: the effort involved is enormous and hard, and it would be unlikely that anyone else could be found to help me. Ultimately, I am not sure in my case that the interest in my ‘collected works’ would warrant the effort. But a thought came to mind that it would be different if I wrote an article — while compiling the volume you are now reading — that would kind of give a synopsis of the nonpublished selected works and would be a variant of a scientific autobiography (I mean an account of my scientific efforts), referring to those publications of mine that I consider to be of some value. Even this approach may not be — and probably will not be — justifiable to some; however, reading it is not compulsory, and this calms me.