When I received my undergraduate degree - about a hundred years ago - the physics literatureseemed to me a vast, unexplored ocean, every part of which I hadtochartbefore beginning anyresearch of my own. How could I do anything without knowing everything that had already beendone? Fortunately, in my first year ofgraduateschool, Ihad the good luck to fall into the hands ofsenior physicists who insisted, over my anxious objections, that I must start doing research, andpick up what Ineeded toknow as Iwent along. It was sink or swim. To my surprise, I found thatthis works. I managed to get a quick PhD - though when I got it I knew almost nothingaboutphysics.But I didlearn one big thing: that no one knows everything, and you don't have to. Scientist: Four golden lessons