Every writer has a different style of writing. The content which a person creates, describes and elaborates snippets of his or her personality. In a lecture hosted by the college of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Northeastern University, Lisa Emerson spoke about a Mathematician Professor who described his house in a technical manner: he stated the number of windows, doors, and more quantitative facts. This manner is generally contrary to the manner in which other writers would describe their house. They would speak about the colour of the walls, the air, and the warmth of its fireplace. The touch of creativity and leisure of language was found in these writers.
According to Lisa Emerson, the scientists and mathematicians find writing scary. Once, one scientist told Emerson that symbols like ‘=’, ‘,’ have a lot of connotations and hidden meanings and that no amount of words can actually describe what these symbols exactly meant. Words here, tend to limit the information that is to be conveyed. Emerson calls these scientific writers as ‘the forgotten tribe’ of academic writers.
Scientists care deeply about writing and the process of it. When asked about how they develop their voice and what do they feel about writing and about being writers, she observed that they followed a ‘lifecycle mode’ of writing. In this cycle, it is only during their old age and end-of-career span that they leave an impact on their readers and audience with their scientific theories. But, the scientists reject this hypothesis and exclaim that Science is not an old person’s game.
Through her ongoing research, Lisa Emerson observed that these writers developed within a community which spoke science and not writing. Imitation and practice are the two methods these scientists used to develop themselves as writers. These practices can help them to communicate the theories and research they formulate. Inventing something is important but it is also important to convey the invention to the masses in a language and style which is comprehensible to everyone.
Akshara Palshetkar
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