What inspires and encourages a great idea? Can we train ourselves to think in ways that enable world-changing insights and insights to emerge? Richard Hamming said we could do it. First in 1986, he inspired a generation of engineers, scientists, and researchers with “You and Your Research,” an exciting sermon about why some scientists do great work, why many don't, why he does, and why you can and should do it. . -more. Science and the Art of Engineering is the full expression of what “You and Your Research” epitomizes. A book about thinking; more specifically, a way of thinking from which great ideas are conceived. The book is filled with stories of great people doing mighty things - but they're not just designed to be admired. Instead, they should be nurtured, learned from, and surpassed. Hamming continually returns to Shannon's theory of information, Einstein's theory of relativity, Grace Hopper's work on high-level programming, Kaiser's work on digital fillers, and his own work on error-correcting codes. He also cites some of his outstanding failings as clear examples of what to avoid.