BTU Advent calendar: Door 12

Research lives from visions - A little story to give courage

As a student, a doctoral student, a post-doc and also as a professor, I have always been fascinated by research ideas on intelligent systems - systems that autonomously adjust their runtime, rebuild themselves, repair themselves and reinvent themselves again and again. Not a few such visions felt like science fiction not so long ago. What was exciting and important to me not infrequently led to awestruck silence in discussions, sometimes even to shaking of heads.

But research and development have come a long way! Today, I am fascinated by the fact that precisely those things are successful that were gladly regarded as reveries and where the interlocutors were particularly shocked. Admittedly, some of these things took more than 15 years to be built and used today. But still! Smart systems are part of our lives and are evolving rapidly before our astonished eyes. Isn't that wonderful?

What do I take away from this as an experience for myself: Interesting research topics sometimes make us shake our heads, but that's no reason to give up on them. Some things take time, maybe longer than we think. But then they start to have an effect and may even be useful. And, last but not least: Research, like life, is colourful and I wish for many more daring theories and shining eyes in scientific discussions.

In this spirit, I wish you - not only at Christmas and not alone in research: Follow your ideas and your inspiration. Stay curious!

Yours

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Hübner