What does it take to become a top physicist? What does it take to become a top physicist?
Why do so many extremely talented young upstarts totally flop as they move to more advanced physics?
 A: *

*How to become a good theoretical physicist by Gerard 't Hooft (Nobel Laureate)

*Hang out here :-) 

*Always remember the reason why are you doing physics.
Here is my reason (and it also happens to be Richard Feynman's too :)

Physics is like sex. It may produce some practical results. But that is not why we do it.

Becoming the greatest physicist of all the times (yeah... just like dear old Albert) is ambition. Finding out new physics and solving unsolved problems is challenge. But the point is doing physics. Nothing else matters. 

*Reason for despair of most of the people (including of course me) is that we think is that all the good ideas are already taken. 
a. When Max Plank went to a professor and said that he wanted to do physics. The professor said physics is finished, there is nothing more to do.
b. After electron was discovered Max Born said physics as we know it will be finished within a week. 
c. Aristotle had invented theories for every other thing. But.. you know what happened when Galileo, Newton turned up. 

*To be a top physicist you MUST read hell lot of science fiction along with the serious books.

*And finally, a must watch video for despaired souls ;-)

*Don't take it very seriously. Don't take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway :) 
A: What is a top physicist? Can you name a few? If you do, you will see they have little in common except 100% devotion. So that is necessary, but there are no sufficient criteria.
A: Do not Despair :) .
What does it take to become a top physicist?
To start with one has to be a physicist. A physicist is one who studies physics because of a burning curiosity about how the material world works and tries to satisfy it by going to graduate school and accumulating knowledge .
Now a "middle of the drawer" physicist has in addition to be either very good in math if aiming in theory, or be very good in experiments if aiming to be an experimentalist, and be able to use the accumulated knowledge in research at the frontier of the unknown.
Top physicist is a bit of luck and a bit of attention and dedication to science politics and university politics etc.
Why do so many extremely talented young upstarts totally flop as they move to more advanced physics?
Define "extremely talented" . If they burn to learn physics and they are good in maths why would they flop?  Unless it is the "soft generation syndrome": lack of direction and persistence, giving up at the first hurdle.
A: A great brain and hard work are required to be a top physicist. To be an average or below physicist is possible through a deficiency in one and a surplus in the other (I would consider myself to be moderate intelligence but a very hard worker which makes up for it to some degree). As you can see, one of these traits is naturally obtained and the other can be acquired. 
There is the common perception amongst non-physicist laymen that all physicists are pretty much equally intelligent. Nothing could be further from the truth. We live on the upper end of the bell curve which is hardly constant. 
A: it is pretty hard :D i tried for myself but failed , you will need


*

*Good qualifications to enrole into a Ph D. program to learn more

*An University affiliation to get your articles published with other scientist

*A good imagination

*the Help of other more intelligent teachers ...
good luck
