In 1665, “social distancing” orders emptied campuses throughout England, as the bubonic plague raged, killing 100,000 people (roughly one-quarter of London’s population), in just 18 months. A 24-year-old student from Trinity College, Cambridge was among those forced to leave campus and return indefinitely to his childhood home.
His name was Isaac Newton and his time at home during the epidemic would be called his “year of wonders.”
Away from university life, and unbounded by curriculum constraints and professor’s whims, Newton dove into discovery. According to The Washington Post: “Without his professors to guide him, Newton apparently thrived.” At home, he built bookshelves and created a small office for himself, filling a blank notebook with his ideas and calculations. Absent the distractions of typical daily life, Newton’s creativity flourished. During this time away he discovered differential and integral calculus, formulated a theory of universal gravitation, and explored optics, experimenting with prisms and investigating light.
More here – Foundation for Economic Education
I once saw a study that may have qualified as research but it was so interesting that I have never been able to get it out of my mind regardless. I have no idea how they standardised the data over a whole lifespan, or whether the instrument was ever validated.
But the researchers attempted to study the vague idea of creativity over a whole lifespan. Not longitudinal studies however. I believe they developed some measure of creativity that may have been valid in some way. I resonated with the findings however, which intuitively reveals some deep dark and dangerous bias in myself. Regardless, the findings were that in our community the times of peak creativity occurred prior to starting school and after leaving employment. The least creative time was during that long interregnum when people are engaged in running the world, during our working loves. So, generalising dangerously, those most in control of our fates are the least creative. This resonates with me at an primal level absolutely. I suspect probably with you too Chris.
It may also be that those in power come from a very narrow spectrum of intellectual pursuits – namely the professional politician.
Imagine what Sir Isaac would have done with an Apple…Macintosh 😀