Conducting the literature survey

We quote Patankar regarding the invention of the upwind-difference scheme in numerical mathematics⁴: "It was first put forward by Courant, Isaacson, and Rees (1952) and subsequently re-invented by Gentry, Martin and Daly (1966), Barakat and Clark (1966), and Runchal and Wolfshtein (1969)."

From biology, we have the example of Mendel, the father of the law of inheritance. Mendel’s work was re-discovered independently by three researchers Correns, De Vries and Von Seysenegg, nearly 40 years after his work was published.⁵

It is also said that as a young man, the philosopher Karl Marx wasted a considerable amount of time retracing the same ground as Georg Hegel as he did not have access to Hegel’s early writings.⁶

Cross-fertilisation from other disciplines through a literature study can also often be useful to "broaden your horizons". For example, Adam Smith, the pioneering theoretical economist, was influenced by the philosopher David Hume in his theory that the interests of society are best guided by the "invisible hand" of competition.⁷

Another example of the rewards of acquiring information from other fields is that of the Hungarian financial speculator, George Salos. He made millions by means of his own financial investment device called Quantum Fund.

Interestingly, the philosophy behind this fund was greatly influenced by (although not based on) the theories of quantum physics.⁸ (We believe that the philosophers who study quantum physics will achieve much more in the future than those who do not.)

In one of our projects concerning an energy efficiency campaign, we obtained a very interesting "penetration model" from overseas literature. We found that with a little adjustment, the model could easily be applied to our own country. This saved our client a great deal of time and effort in trying to predict the success of the campaign.

Researchers of today have little excuse not to conduct an extensive and thorough literature review. We have relatively easy access to information in almost every conceivable research field. Spare a thought for the great philosopher Plato⁹, who had to spend a fortune on a single reference book.

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