About the Author
Korey Bachelder is the owner of MediaRECOVER, a provider of data recovery software and restore service provider. When your backups fail (or you failed to make one), MediaRECOVER software will get your important information and images back from virtually any storage medium.
We all know we're supposed to back up data. Sometimes we might actually do so. Backing up your data is important, and yet it is often a neglected part of using computers. Data can be lost rather easily. Human error, a virus, or simply a computer crash can wipe out important documents, photos, contact lists and more.
Backing up your data is important to everyone, not just businesses. Imagine all those photos you took of your children growing up, now sitting on your hard drive. What about your video and music collection? Perhaps you've heard about entire collections of documents lost from your friends' or coworkers' computers. The stories are haunting. All those years of searching and collecting of that data, and it can be wiped out in an instant. Could you ever replace all that information?
Hard Drives Are Not Always Safe
The truth is that hard drives don't live forever. Even if you've never had an incident with a virus during the life of an existing hard drive, it will eventually wear out. Your hard drives are also always vulnerable to viruses, or from a power surge, which can also cause them to fail. You may try to use data recovery programs, but prevention is always better than hoping your data will be able to be recovered.
When hard drives fail, it might be difficult to replace all that information. If you use your computer for a business, it is even more important, as that could be hundreds of thousands of dollars of information that you are risking by not backing up your hard drives. Depending on your hard drives and virus protection alone is very risky when you have so much that you are responsible for.
How Often Should You Back Up Data?
This question is often debated. Some suggest every day, or a week, others suggest every time they upload anything new. Some are comfortable with simply doing it once a month.
How often you choose to back up your data is up to you. A good rule of thumb is to back up your data as often as you have new and important data to back up. For example, businesses that depend on contact data management programs and update important information daily might find it better to back up every day at the end of the day -- of just that data. Other documents and folders that are not updated quite as often can possibly be updated once a week or once a month.
It might completely depend on the type of data you want to back up. It is easy enough to set up a routine. Back up important data every day or week regularly and get into the habit of doing so. You can set your computer to remind you of when you need to back up. There are also programs that will do your back ups for you when you want it to. There's more information on these programs later in this article.
What Data To Back Up
It is true; you don't always need to back up everything on your computer. What you should decide now is what is important to you to save. Here's a list of things you should consider backing up.
Family photos
Films
Music
Stories and documents
Bookmarks
Address book (emails and addresses of families and friends or business clients)
To do lists
Presentations
Old emails
Work files and folders
Games
There might be many more types of files you want to save. You should go through your computer and think about any information you would not want to lose if your hard drive should fail.
How To Back Up Your Data
It is now easier than ever to back up your data. It all starts with knowing what data you want to save, and keeping it in centralized locations on your PC. If you know what to save, you know exactly what to do and to work it into a routine. Learn where your data is.
The next step is selecting what data you want to save and when. Perhaps you have documents that you wrote a year ago, but at the moment you don't want to use and yet you want to keep them anyway. Obviously such files only need to be stored once in your chosen locations. By separating your documents into when you need to save them, you'll find it easier to do back ups. It'll also take a lot less time to do a back up on just items that were updated recently, not all your files all the time.
Once you have your files separated, there's a couple of ways to back up your data. There's also a way to back up your hard drive so if it should ever fail, you won't have to remember all the programs you had and having to reinstall them again. We'll get to that in a minute.
Doing It Yourself
Here's the old reliable way of doing data recovery. You could back up your data on burned disks, and it is a good idea, but a disk can be scratched or lost. It's a good idea to utilize burning CDs with your information, but you should also have additional copies in other areas. If you burn a disk with important information, do yourself a favor and burn two copies, keeping the second one at a different location, like a safety deposit box.
Another way to do this is to get a flash drive. An additional external drive that you can store your files on. It acts as an additional hard drive. You could regularly back up your data files on these flash drives.
Both of these storage methods are rather inexpensive over time. A flash drive could cost $200 or so but is worth it for all the years it will save your data for you. CDs cost only $1 - $3 each depending on the type, and a CD burner costs as little as $50.
While using them is highly recommended, it is often the hardest habit to get into, even when you devote yourself to doing it regularly. It is easy to forget to back up your drives like this. If you don’t trust yourself to do this regularly, there's another method of backing up your files.
Internet Based Data Storage
There are companies now that will help you store your data for you.
Google Docs (http://docs.google.com/) does provide storage of your files. This would be for your Word, Excel and other documents. You can store and share your files online. Many people like it and use it for work documents. You still have to manually upload the documents every time though.
Another useful tool is Xdrive (http://www.xdrive.com/), which offers 5 GB of storage space for free. Their download also features a way to automatically back up your selected files as you need. Need more space? They offer 50 GB of storage for a fee.
Yet another utility, Mozy (http://mozy.com/) offers 2 GB free, and for a small monthly fee you get additional storage. They offer both home and professional versions of their services.
Ghost (http://www.symantec.com/themes/ghost/index.jsp), provided by Symantec, not only backs up your data, but also your entire hard drive. If your hard drive is ever wiped out, you have a Ghost to restore an exact copy of the last backup made. It'll store your software and files exactly as you had it before. It also constantly updates itself when you want it to.
Recommendations
To completely cover your hard drive, here's the recommended steps:
1. Section off files you don't need all the time, and perhaps those files you don't really access at all and store those files on burned CDs or flash drives, making duplicate sets, one for the office and one for off site. Replace them with updated versions with additional "no need" files once every two months or so.
2. Set files aside that you use every day, and set a system like Xdrive or Mozy to download in the evening when you sleep to store your data.
3. If you don't run a lot of software, or you have all your disks, or you wouldn't miss a lot of the software that you have there isn't much more to be done. However, if you do, and want to prevent having to re-install all those programs, and have an extra data back up feature, go ahead and get a program like Ghost, programmed to update at least once a month.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Data Loss and Data Recovery
About the Author
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk
All computers are powered by a tiny silicon processor that carries millions of transistors too small to be seen with naked human eyes. The unique feature of the processor is that it can combine the power of the transistors to carry out a huge amount of calculations per second. This is what gives computers their incomparable computing power. Digital devices run a variety of software to harness this power and are able to surpass humans and mechanical devices in terms of performance and quality of work done.
Computers generate a large amount of data during their routine operations. To keep this data safe and sound even after the machine has been switched off, a number of data-storage devices have been invented. These differ widely in storage capacity, shape and size as well as price. Their capacity ranges from a mere 1.2 MB of the now-almost-extinct floppy diskette to an enormous 500 GB of a portable hard drive.
These storage devices use different technologies to store data. The optical disks, as the name states, use a laser to read and write data, while hard disks use an electro-magnet mounted over their head. The new-fangled USB drives use flash memory and electric charge to perform their storage functions. All these storage devices, though very useful in day-to-day computer work, have one thing in common – they can lose all their data abruptly and leave the user in the lurch. This data loss can occur due to a variety of reasons.
Hardware errors are quite common. These relate to defects and malfunction of the physical surface and components of the storage media. Hard drives are quite delicate devices that are susceptible to impact trauma. The most serious error that can occur to them is a head crash. Water and fire damage can also result in serious cases of data loss.
Optical disks may lose data due to corruption of their exposed recording surface. Then there are software causes. These relate to data loss due to some problem with the software programs and actual user data. The most common software errors are accidental deletion of a file by the user, accidental reformatting of the storage media and a virus attack.
Data loss for any reason is a serious business. It can lead to tremendous losses and financial setbacks for companies. For individuals, loss of critical files may result in a lot of inconvenience and hand-wringing. The moment someone’s data gets lost, the first priority is to get it back as soon as possible. Depending on the severity of the case, the cost and time involved in recovering data may range from negligible to phenomenal.
For data loss due to software causes, Do It Yourself (DIY) recovery software is a good option. There are many companies that sell these packages through their websites. You have to pay online using a credit card and download the software to your computer hard disk. DIY recovery is ideal for cases such as accidental deletion of files, file corruption and even reformatting of the storage media. The only danger in this is that if you are unlucky, the software files may get downloaded exactly on the same spot of the hard disk where your missing files have been residing. This will result in overwriting and may lead to permanent loss of the missing data.
Getting data recovered professionally is the only option in cases of data loss due to hardware causes and serious software errors. The professional recovery companies use specialized equipment and tailor-made file-extraction software to recover your data. They have a team of technically qualified and experienced engineers who extract the files carefully using a variety of techniques.
The most important asset these companies have is what is called a clean room. This is a small space enclosed from all sides in which the air is continuously recycled through powerful filters, removing all air-borne contaminants, even microscopic ones such as skin flakes, sweat, human hair, perfume vapour and chemicals. Entry into a clean room is strictly regulated and the technicians have to wear a moon suit.
Clean rooms are needed because hard disks are very sensitive to dust. Even a tiny spec wedged between the platters and head can make the disk to crash, leading to catastrophic data loss. In a clean room, the disks can be opened, repaired, resealed and handed back to the customer.
Professional recovery is not an inexpensive proposition. It can cost a lot of money because of the effort, technical skill and infrastructure required to extract the lost data. However, it is worth it if the alternative is the collapse of your business due to data loss.
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk
All computers are powered by a tiny silicon processor that carries millions of transistors too small to be seen with naked human eyes. The unique feature of the processor is that it can combine the power of the transistors to carry out a huge amount of calculations per second. This is what gives computers their incomparable computing power. Digital devices run a variety of software to harness this power and are able to surpass humans and mechanical devices in terms of performance and quality of work done.
Computers generate a large amount of data during their routine operations. To keep this data safe and sound even after the machine has been switched off, a number of data-storage devices have been invented. These differ widely in storage capacity, shape and size as well as price. Their capacity ranges from a mere 1.2 MB of the now-almost-extinct floppy diskette to an enormous 500 GB of a portable hard drive.
These storage devices use different technologies to store data. The optical disks, as the name states, use a laser to read and write data, while hard disks use an electro-magnet mounted over their head. The new-fangled USB drives use flash memory and electric charge to perform their storage functions. All these storage devices, though very useful in day-to-day computer work, have one thing in common – they can lose all their data abruptly and leave the user in the lurch. This data loss can occur due to a variety of reasons.
Hardware errors are quite common. These relate to defects and malfunction of the physical surface and components of the storage media. Hard drives are quite delicate devices that are susceptible to impact trauma. The most serious error that can occur to them is a head crash. Water and fire damage can also result in serious cases of data loss.
Optical disks may lose data due to corruption of their exposed recording surface. Then there are software causes. These relate to data loss due to some problem with the software programs and actual user data. The most common software errors are accidental deletion of a file by the user, accidental reformatting of the storage media and a virus attack.
Data loss for any reason is a serious business. It can lead to tremendous losses and financial setbacks for companies. For individuals, loss of critical files may result in a lot of inconvenience and hand-wringing. The moment someone’s data gets lost, the first priority is to get it back as soon as possible. Depending on the severity of the case, the cost and time involved in recovering data may range from negligible to phenomenal.
For data loss due to software causes, Do It Yourself (DIY) recovery software is a good option. There are many companies that sell these packages through their websites. You have to pay online using a credit card and download the software to your computer hard disk. DIY recovery is ideal for cases such as accidental deletion of files, file corruption and even reformatting of the storage media. The only danger in this is that if you are unlucky, the software files may get downloaded exactly on the same spot of the hard disk where your missing files have been residing. This will result in overwriting and may lead to permanent loss of the missing data.
Getting data recovered professionally is the only option in cases of data loss due to hardware causes and serious software errors. The professional recovery companies use specialized equipment and tailor-made file-extraction software to recover your data. They have a team of technically qualified and experienced engineers who extract the files carefully using a variety of techniques.
The most important asset these companies have is what is called a clean room. This is a small space enclosed from all sides in which the air is continuously recycled through powerful filters, removing all air-borne contaminants, even microscopic ones such as skin flakes, sweat, human hair, perfume vapour and chemicals. Entry into a clean room is strictly regulated and the technicians have to wear a moon suit.
Clean rooms are needed because hard disks are very sensitive to dust. Even a tiny spec wedged between the platters and head can make the disk to crash, leading to catastrophic data loss. In a clean room, the disks can be opened, repaired, resealed and handed back to the customer.
Professional recovery is not an inexpensive proposition. It can cost a lot of money because of the effort, technical skill and infrastructure required to extract the lost data. However, it is worth it if the alternative is the collapse of your business due to data loss.
Spy Cams and What They Could Do to You
When talking of spy cams, one of the initial things that you would perhaps consider is James Bond films, possibly even conspiracy movies when you possess a mind that entertains such thoughts. Yet needless to say, they're not as out-of-this-world as Hollywood makes them to be. They're only surveillance cameras that are smaller than what we commonly notice. As a matter of fact, spy cams aren't meant to be noticed. That's why they're commonly little then put in casings made to look like the dullest objects such as ballpens, watches, lipsticks, sunglasses, even buttons.
A spy camera is a surveillance gadget used in situations where hidden surveillance is badly needed. For instance, you're doubting that one of your employees is dishonest in one form or another. To stop them from letting their guards up and allowing you to catch that certain individual in the act on record, you employ the use of a hidden spy camera to regulate your individuals without them learning about it. You can also opt to bring them around should the need arise by using wireless spy cameras. It's basically somewhat fundamental, but it gets the work done! Nanny cameras also became very popular forms of spy cameras after news of nannies as well as maids misbehaving and mistreating the children when the employers are not around.
A spy camera is available in numerous designs. There are a couple that are put in inanimate items made to blend into the common atmosphere rendering them hidden, such as those disguised as or concealed in lamps, clocks, or speaker systems; and spy cam glasses and button cameras which are also called body worn, mini spy cameras. Still a spy cam doesn't necessarily imply a little surveillance technology. A well-concealed, regular security camera could also be considered a spy cam.
These kinds of security cameras might be more dangerous than usual CCTV cams. At least, with the latter, you're aware that you are being videoed so you tend to get your act together. With hidden spy cams, you don't know when that tiny all-seeing eye is trained on you and there you are doing whatever you feel like doing. Which is the main objective of having spy cams: to find out what you are doing when you think nobody is watching. These tiny devices destroy marriages when a spouse is caught philandering, discredit an otherwise credible person, as well as bring down people in high statures.
As you may notice, when something as tiny as a mini spy camera may ruin a reputation, how sensitive can reputation be? I guess all we should do is take great care of it. However, respect can sometimes be so elusive. Temptation is a part of living, but if you surrender to temptation kindly, you're likely to leave out of the predicament unscathed, if you get into a mess at all! All I am saying is, get your act together before those concealed video cameras catch you. And when you have to give in, take into account the aftereffects. I'm sure you'll find a way around it.
A spy camera is a surveillance gadget used in situations where hidden surveillance is badly needed. For instance, you're doubting that one of your employees is dishonest in one form or another. To stop them from letting their guards up and allowing you to catch that certain individual in the act on record, you employ the use of a hidden spy camera to regulate your individuals without them learning about it. You can also opt to bring them around should the need arise by using wireless spy cameras. It's basically somewhat fundamental, but it gets the work done! Nanny cameras also became very popular forms of spy cameras after news of nannies as well as maids misbehaving and mistreating the children when the employers are not around.
A spy camera is available in numerous designs. There are a couple that are put in inanimate items made to blend into the common atmosphere rendering them hidden, such as those disguised as or concealed in lamps, clocks, or speaker systems; and spy cam glasses and button cameras which are also called body worn, mini spy cameras. Still a spy cam doesn't necessarily imply a little surveillance technology. A well-concealed, regular security camera could also be considered a spy cam.
These kinds of security cameras might be more dangerous than usual CCTV cams. At least, with the latter, you're aware that you are being videoed so you tend to get your act together. With hidden spy cams, you don't know when that tiny all-seeing eye is trained on you and there you are doing whatever you feel like doing. Which is the main objective of having spy cams: to find out what you are doing when you think nobody is watching. These tiny devices destroy marriages when a spouse is caught philandering, discredit an otherwise credible person, as well as bring down people in high statures.
As you may notice, when something as tiny as a mini spy camera may ruin a reputation, how sensitive can reputation be? I guess all we should do is take great care of it. However, respect can sometimes be so elusive. Temptation is a part of living, but if you surrender to temptation kindly, you're likely to leave out of the predicament unscathed, if you get into a mess at all! All I am saying is, get your act together before those concealed video cameras catch you. And when you have to give in, take into account the aftereffects. I'm sure you'll find a way around it.
An Overview of Specialty Fluorochemicals
Author : Stephanie Larkin is a freelance writer who writes about issues and topics pertaining to the use of chemicals such as Fluorochemicals .
Fluorine has a number of chemical properties that make it particularly desirable for a wide variety of different industrial, commercial, and even medical applications. In particular, it is the most electronegative and the most highly reactive of all the elements, and readily forms compounds with all elements except for the three lightest noble gases. One particularly useful property of fluorine is that it forms strong and stable covalent bonds with carbon.
Due to these important and highly useful chemical properties, specialty fluorochemicals have numerous applications in a range of industries. The addition of fluorine or fluorine substituents improves the desirable qualities of an amazingly wide variety of compounds including pharmaceuticals, plastics, elastomers, and surfactants.
One of the most well-known uses of fluorine is the addition of fluoride to drinking water and toothpastes, to strengthen tooth enamel and help prevent tooth decay. There are many more highly specific uses of fluorine and specialty fluorochemicals, most of which are concentrated in the industrial, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries.
Types and Uses of Specialty Fluorochemicals
Agricultural Uses: The addition of fluorine to many agricultural herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides improves the potency and therefore reduces the required application rate of these substances.
Photoresists: These polymers are used in semiconductor lithography. The addition of fluorine or fluorinated substituents to photoresists improves desirable chemical and physical properties.
Surfactants: Fluorine is a key component of surfactants and related compounds such as stain repellants.
Dyes: Adding fluorine or fluorinated substituents to many dyes improves their chemical and light resistance, and also their fixation yield.
Liquid Crystals: Adding fluorine to liquid crystal for use in display devices improves desirable chemical and physical properties such as the viscosity and miscibility of the liquid.
Plastics and Elastomers: With the addition of fluorine, these substances become more chemically and thermally stable. Due to these desirable properties fluoroplastics and fluoroeslastomers are used in a variety of ways, including in wiring insulation, gaskets and seals, hoses, and laboratory equipment.
Ion-Exchange Membranes: The use of fluorinated polymers allows ion-exchange membranes to be used in harsh environments, as the addition of fluorine improves the chemical and thermal stability of the membranes.
Custom-made Fluorochemicals: One particularly advantageous aspect of fluorine is that it can be added to a wide variety of chemical substances to increase stability, potency, and other desirable qualities. This means it is often possible to create custom-made specialty fluorochemicals.
A Closer Look at Fluorocarbons
Fluorocarbons are a particular type of fluorochemicals in which fluorine atoms are covalently bonded to carbon atoms in varying numbers and configurations. These covalent bonds are strong and stable, and this has been a major reason for the widespread of use fluorocarbons for a variety of applications. Fluorocarbons have been used as lubricants, propellants, refrigerants, solvents, and in water and stain-repellent products.
Concern over the slow environmental degradation of fluorocarbons has led to reduced usage of many of these substances. Some, such as carbon tetrachloride, were once available for public use, but are now much more tightly regulated. Most fluorocarbon solvents now have a much more limited range of industrial uses.
Some fluorocarbons (such as Freon) have a particularly bad reputation, however, due to their use as refrigerants and propellants. These have commonly contained chlorine in addition to fluorine. While the strong fluorine-carbon bonds make these substances highly resistant to environmental degradation, the addition of chlorine makes them highly reactive and destructive to the earth’s ozone layer. For this reason, the use of chlorofluorocarbons has been largely discontinued.
Despite environmental concerns, some fluorocarbons (such as fluoroplastics and fluoroeslastomers) are still in common use. One example is Teflon, which is a very common component of non-stick cookware.
The Use of Fluorine in Pharmaceuticals
One increasingly widespread application of specialty fluorochemicals is in the pharmaceutical industry, in which the ability of fluorine to improve the existing properties of other chemicals makes it enormously useful.
Simply by adding fluorine, the pharmacological properties of a drug can be improved in potency quite significantly, allowing for the use of lower doses to achieve the same effect as was previously gained.
Aside from this highly desirable property, another important advantage of adding fluorine to pharmaceuticals is that the shape of the resulting fluorochemical is largely unchanged. This is particularly important because the bioactivity of many drugs is highly dependent on the shape of the chemical compound.
One drawback, however, is the fact that the addition of fluorine improves the stability of pharmaceuticals. While this is an enormous advantage for most other specialty fluorochemical applications, in the pharmaceutical industry this is not always the case, because in some cases, improving the stability of a drug can reduce its metabolic degradation.
Currently, up to 50% of all modern pharmaceuticals contain fluorine. These include anesthetics, antidepressants, antifungals and antibiotics, antacids, cholesterol lowering agents, steroids and other anti-inflammatory agents, and certain types of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs.
Fluorine has a number of chemical properties that make it particularly desirable for a wide variety of different industrial, commercial, and even medical applications. In particular, it is the most electronegative and the most highly reactive of all the elements, and readily forms compounds with all elements except for the three lightest noble gases. One particularly useful property of fluorine is that it forms strong and stable covalent bonds with carbon.
Due to these important and highly useful chemical properties, specialty fluorochemicals have numerous applications in a range of industries. The addition of fluorine or fluorine substituents improves the desirable qualities of an amazingly wide variety of compounds including pharmaceuticals, plastics, elastomers, and surfactants.
One of the most well-known uses of fluorine is the addition of fluoride to drinking water and toothpastes, to strengthen tooth enamel and help prevent tooth decay. There are many more highly specific uses of fluorine and specialty fluorochemicals, most of which are concentrated in the industrial, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries.
Types and Uses of Specialty Fluorochemicals
Agricultural Uses: The addition of fluorine to many agricultural herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides improves the potency and therefore reduces the required application rate of these substances.
Photoresists: These polymers are used in semiconductor lithography. The addition of fluorine or fluorinated substituents to photoresists improves desirable chemical and physical properties.
Surfactants: Fluorine is a key component of surfactants and related compounds such as stain repellants.
Dyes: Adding fluorine or fluorinated substituents to many dyes improves their chemical and light resistance, and also their fixation yield.
Liquid Crystals: Adding fluorine to liquid crystal for use in display devices improves desirable chemical and physical properties such as the viscosity and miscibility of the liquid.
Plastics and Elastomers: With the addition of fluorine, these substances become more chemically and thermally stable. Due to these desirable properties fluoroplastics and fluoroeslastomers are used in a variety of ways, including in wiring insulation, gaskets and seals, hoses, and laboratory equipment.
Ion-Exchange Membranes: The use of fluorinated polymers allows ion-exchange membranes to be used in harsh environments, as the addition of fluorine improves the chemical and thermal stability of the membranes.
Custom-made Fluorochemicals: One particularly advantageous aspect of fluorine is that it can be added to a wide variety of chemical substances to increase stability, potency, and other desirable qualities. This means it is often possible to create custom-made specialty fluorochemicals.
A Closer Look at Fluorocarbons
Fluorocarbons are a particular type of fluorochemicals in which fluorine atoms are covalently bonded to carbon atoms in varying numbers and configurations. These covalent bonds are strong and stable, and this has been a major reason for the widespread of use fluorocarbons for a variety of applications. Fluorocarbons have been used as lubricants, propellants, refrigerants, solvents, and in water and stain-repellent products.
Concern over the slow environmental degradation of fluorocarbons has led to reduced usage of many of these substances. Some, such as carbon tetrachloride, were once available for public use, but are now much more tightly regulated. Most fluorocarbon solvents now have a much more limited range of industrial uses.
Some fluorocarbons (such as Freon) have a particularly bad reputation, however, due to their use as refrigerants and propellants. These have commonly contained chlorine in addition to fluorine. While the strong fluorine-carbon bonds make these substances highly resistant to environmental degradation, the addition of chlorine makes them highly reactive and destructive to the earth’s ozone layer. For this reason, the use of chlorofluorocarbons has been largely discontinued.
Despite environmental concerns, some fluorocarbons (such as fluoroplastics and fluoroeslastomers) are still in common use. One example is Teflon, which is a very common component of non-stick cookware.
The Use of Fluorine in Pharmaceuticals
One increasingly widespread application of specialty fluorochemicals is in the pharmaceutical industry, in which the ability of fluorine to improve the existing properties of other chemicals makes it enormously useful.
Simply by adding fluorine, the pharmacological properties of a drug can be improved in potency quite significantly, allowing for the use of lower doses to achieve the same effect as was previously gained.
Aside from this highly desirable property, another important advantage of adding fluorine to pharmaceuticals is that the shape of the resulting fluorochemical is largely unchanged. This is particularly important because the bioactivity of many drugs is highly dependent on the shape of the chemical compound.
One drawback, however, is the fact that the addition of fluorine improves the stability of pharmaceuticals. While this is an enormous advantage for most other specialty fluorochemical applications, in the pharmaceutical industry this is not always the case, because in some cases, improving the stability of a drug can reduce its metabolic degradation.
Currently, up to 50% of all modern pharmaceuticals contain fluorine. These include anesthetics, antidepressants, antifungals and antibiotics, antacids, cholesterol lowering agents, steroids and other anti-inflammatory agents, and certain types of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Wolfram
SATU dekade ke depan, manusia terkaya di dunia boleh jadi bukan lagi
Bill Gates. Calon penggantinya bukan seorang computer nerd atau
venture capitalist, melainkan fisikawan muda jenius bernama Stephen
Wolfram. Ia baru saja menggemparkan jagat keilmuan dengan menerbitkan
dan meluncurkan sendiri magnum opusnya setebal 1.200 halaman lebih
berjudul The New Kind of Science (TNKS). Menurut sejumlah pembaca
awal di situs Amazon.com, buku ini dalam magnitude dan gaya
provokasinya dianggap setara dengan The Origin of Species-nya Charles
Darwin dan Das Kapital-nya Karl Marx.
Yang luar biasa, Wolfram juga wirausahawan tulen yang piawai
memasarkan dan menjual temuan-temuannya ke dunia bisnis yang makin
knowledge intensive. Sebagai multijutawan dollar barangkali ia
merupakan ilmuwan terkaya di dunia. Dengan kekayaan itu, ia mendanai
sendiri riset-risetnya sambil menjadi CEO bagi perusahaannya dengan
ratusan karyawan.
Dalam komunitas fisika, sejumlah tokoh tak ragu mengatakan kehebatan
Wolfram setara dengan dewa-dewa terpenting fisika seperti Galileo,
Newton, dan Einstein. Jika Galileo dikenang dengan Teori Pergerakan
Planet, Newton dengan Teori Gravitasi, dan Einstein dengan Teori
Relativitas, maka Wolfram dengan Cellular Automata.
Dengan perkakas ini, Wolfram mengklaim dapat memecahkan semua problem
fisika abad ke-20 yang sampai kini masih misterius seperti soal
relasi gaya-gaya elektromaknetik dan gravitasi. Dengan demikian
cellular automata boleh jadi akan memenuhi impian suntuk Einstein-
yang tak kesampaian hingga akhir hayatnya-akan adanya teori gabungan
(unified theory of everything) yang mampu menjelaskan semua fenomena
alam dan kosmos itu sendiri.
Namun, cellular automata lebih ambisius dari impian tertinggi
Einstein. Bukan saja di bidang fisika, perkakas Wolfram ditengarai
dapat menjelaskan serta memecahkan berbagai masalah fundamental dalam
biologi, matematika, kimia, computer science, bahkan wilayah-wilayah
lain yang secara tradisional dianggap di luar pengaruh fisika seperti
sosiologi, psikologi, ekonomi, juga teologi, seni, dan filsafat.
***
APAKAH cellular automata itu? Sederhananya, cellular automata adalah
sehimpunan proses fundamental peciptaan pola-pola keteraturan dengan
menggunakan komputer (computer-generated ordering process) yang
bentuk akhirnya sangat menyerupai apa yang terjadi di alam. Program
komputer Wolfram ini mengambil input data yang tidak teratur (bahkan
chaos), lalu diproses menggunakan sejumlah Aturan Wolfram, dan
akhirnya menghasilkan output gambar yang sangat mengagumkan baik
pola, kompleksitas, maupun derajat keteraturannya di layar komputer.
Dalam bukunya yang dipenuhi ratusan gambar itu, Wolfram menunjukkan
proses terciptanya berbagai bentuk pola-pola yang kompleks seperti
kristal es, bunga-bungaan, dedaunan, sebaran warna-warni bulu burung
merak, spiral galaksi, turbulensi air deras, jaringan sirkuit otak
manusia, badai topan, kulit kerang, lekak-lekuk sungai, pokoknya
berbagai macam bentuk output dari sistem operasi alam semesta.
Wolfram berpendapat bentuk-bentuk yang dihasilkan oleh cellular
automata itu bukan sekadar replika kebetulan dari fitur-fitur yang
ditemui di alam, tetapi sekaligus dapat menjelaskan bagaimana alam
bekerja pada tingkat paling fundamental. Karena itu, Wolfram tak ragu
berpendapat, program cellular automata akan menjadi metoda paling
ampuh yang dikenal umat manusia hingga kini, untuk memecahkan rahasia
alam, sekaligus menjelaskan arsitektur jagat raya dan evolusi segenap
bentuk kehidupan di dalamnya. Wolfram bahkan menengarai semesta alam
ini tidak lain adalah sebuah mahakomputer alami yang berperilaku
sebagai sebuah super cellular automata.
Di tingkat praktis, tidak saja celluar automata akan merevolusi jagat
sains secara radikal, tetapi Wolfram juga menjanjikan terbukanya
pintu gerbang lebar bagi lahirnya sejumlah besar teknologi baru dalam
waktu segera seperti komputer kuantum, supermikroteknik pada skala
atom, desain serta reparasi bagian-bagian jaringan dan organ tubuh,
materi baru, dan obat-obatan baru yang lebih ajaib khasiatnya.
Sungguh fantastis!
***
SIAPA gerangan sang jenius ini? Lahir tahun 1959 di London, Stephen
Wolfram adalah
a new kind of physicist. Ketika masih sekolah menengah di Eaton,
Inggris, ia belajar sendiri fisika tingkat advanced pada usia 12
tahun. Saat umurnya baru 15 tahun makalahnya di bidang fisika teori
sudah muncul di jurnal fisika.
Tak betah belajar dari guru dan dosen-menurut dia terlalu lamban-ia
lalu melahap berbagai buku teks kelas berat ketika teman seusianya
masih sibuk bermain Halloween dan bercinta monyet.
Pertama kali kuliah di Oxford, ia masuk semester satu. Sangat tidak
menarik baginya, ia langsung menghadiri kuliah semester enam. Juga
tidak cukup menarik, ia lalu memutuskan tidak pernah masuk kelas
lagi. "Saya dapat mengetahui berbagai hal jauh lebih cepat dan lebih
mendalam dengan membaca daripada mendengar dosen ngomong," begitu
alasannya menyebut kuliah sebagai kegiatan buang waktu.
Hebatnya, ia mampu menghasilkan puluhan makalah di bidang kosmologi
dan fisika partikel yang dimuat pada jurnal-jurnal fisika kelas
tinggi.
Tidak sampai tamat S1 dari Oxford, ia langsung direkrut oleh raksasa
fisika peraih nobel dari California Institute of Technology
(Caltech), Murray Gell-Man, tahun 1978. Wolfram langsung masuk
program doktor. Di kampus ini, di mana Richard Feynman, fisikawan
legendaris lainnya bermukim, Wolfram juga tampak kurang tertantang.
Agar ia betah, maka program doktor khusus diberikan padanya. Dalam
tempo setahun saja, ia mendapat PhD pada usia 20 tahun tanpa harus
membuat disertasi, tetapi cukup membundel ulang enam makalah
terbaiknya.
Pergaulan intelektual tingkat tinggi antara doktor remaja Wolfram
dengan fisikawan dewa sekelas Feynman dan Gell-Man tampaknya sanggup
membuatnya kerasan selama 10 tahun di Caltech. Tapi, akhirnya ia
bentrok juga dengan administratur institut itu perihal komersialisasi
temuan-temuannya.
Usia 31, ia diterima di Kampus Einstein yang legendaris, the
Institute for Advanced Studies di Princeton. Wolfram tercatat sebagai
anggota termuda institut itu sepanjang sejarah. Tapi, kampus
penelitian paling bebas di dunia ini pun ternyata tidak sanggup
menyediakan ruang bagi kebebasan gerak dan independensi intelektual
yang dituntut Wolfram.
Akhirnya tahun 1986 ia mendirikan Wolfram Research Inc, institusi
penelitian pribadinya. Di sinilah ia menggabungkan bisnis dan riset
secara bebas yang berpuncak pada lahirnya mahakarya TNKS yang
menggemparkan itu. Dalam rangka mengembangkan TNKS, Wolfram harus
pula mengarang Mathematica-sebuah sistem software yang digunakan
untuk keperluan komputasi teknikal dan pemrograman simbolik (symbolic
manipulation programming)-terlebih dahulu, yang sama raksasa bobotnya
dengan TNKS itu sendiri. Ini persis seperti Newton yang harus
mengarang dulu kalkulus diferensial agar bisa menjelaskan gravitasi
dan Einstein yang harus mengonstruksi dulu sebuah aljabar empat
dimensi agar bisa menjelaskan relativitas.
Bedanya, kedua pendahulu Wolfram itu cuma ilmuwan murni yang hidup
dari dana negara sedangkan Wolfram sekaligus entrepreneur kawakan
yang jago mencetak duit gede dalam setiap langkahnya menuju puncak
sains tertinggi.
***
KISAH Wolfram tampaknya tak pernah dibayangkan orang ketika
memikirkan fisika. Bagi awam, fisika adalah ilmu esoteris yang tak
jelas manfaat praktisnya. Sarjana fisika biasanya kere tak berduit.
Pekerjaan mereka paling-paling jadi dosen.
Otak mereka dipenuhi atom-atom, galaksi-galaksi, dan persamaan-
persamaan matematika yang eksotis, tetapi kantung mereka enggak gaul.
Wacana mereka makro-makro tapi dompet super mikro. Konon Einstein
sendiri pun pernah mengatakan, "Science is a wonderful thing if one
does not have to earn one's living at it."
Alhasil, citra fisikawan memang jauh dari menarik. Sampai hari ini
pun fisika tidak pernah menjadi pilihan utama bagi kebanyakan
mahasiswa cerdas namun tetap ingin hidup keren berkecukupan.
Sekitar tiga dekade lalu, jurusan fisika ITB bahkan harus menawarkan
beasiswa bagi siapa saja yang bersedia masuk fisika jika lulus ujian
masuk. Banyak input jurusan fisika saat itu merupakan mahasiswa kere.
Sebagian lagi, terjebak oleh citra di atas, lalu hengkang dan testing
ulang ke jurusan teknik.
Memang ada juga minoritas yang hebat otaknya, termotivasi oleh the
beauty of physics itu sendiri, menganggap mencari duit sebagai
kegiatan yang inferior, memutuskan mendalami fisika sampai ke tulang
sumsum. Namun, makhluk seperti ini dianggap aneh oleh masyarakat.
Orangtua pun biasanya tidak mengizinkan anaknya memilih fisika.
Bahkan, seorang ibunda Evelyne Mintarno pun, yang anaknya berhasil
menjadi satu-satunya peserta putri dari Indonesia dalam Olimpide
Fisika 2002 di Bali, belum merelakan putrinya memilih fisika karena
terbelenggu anggapan fisikawan hanya bisa jadi guru. Padahal putrinya
yang hebat itu, selain meminati sungguh fisika sudah diterima di
universitas bergengsi, Stanford. (Kompas, 24/7)
***
KIPRAH para fisikawan sesungguhnya tidaklah sesempit menjadi dosen
saja. Ilmu fisika yang selalu terobsesi dengan perkara-perkara
fundamental, perumusan dan pemecahan masalah secara elegan, dengan
disiplin berpikir yang rigor konseptual, sebenarnya lebih dari cukup
sebagai bekal hidup penuh makna, termasuk hidup makmur kalau mau.
Sisanya adalah minat, ambisi, dan etos kerja.
Selain menjadi peneliti dan guru, banyak sarjana fisika Indonesia
akhirnya menjadi eksekutif bisnis (seperti Harianto Mangkusasono dan
Charlo Mamora, terakhir keduanya menjadi konsultan pengembangan dan
transformasi bisnis), rohaniwan (seperti Pater Drost), ekonom
(seperti Rizal Ramli dan Umar Juoro, meskipun keduanya tidak
menamatkan fisika), dan terbanyak menjadi profesional di berbagai
bidang (misalnya IT, perminyakan, elektronika, otomotif, pers, SDM,
pertambangan, perbankan) termasuk menjadi wiraswastawan. Intinya,
dari fisika orang bisa ke mana-mana, tergantung minat, stamina juang,
dan sekali lagi etos kerja.
Ke depan, seiring dengan munculnya fenomena Wolfram di atas, dapat
diharapkan semakin banyak orang-orang muda yang terinspirasi menjadi
fisikawan-hartawan. Mengapa tidak? Dalam dunia di mana kapitalisme
global semakin meraja, semakin diperlukan sumbangan berbagai jenis
inovasi berbasis fisika untuk menciptakan business value yang hebat-
hebat.
Wolfram membuktikan, meraih kemakmuran tidak berarti mengorbankan
ilmu, atau sebaliknya, berilmu tinggi tidak harus jadi miskin.
Wolfram mendemonstrasikan sebuah paradigma baru. Menjual fisika untuk
uang, dengan uang mendanai riset fisika, dan dengan uang cukup mampu
memperoleh independensi berkarya, dengan sebuah side effect yang tak
kalah menarik: hidup enak dan bermartabat.
Salah satu problem besar fisikawan murni Indonesia (ilmuwan berbasis
universitas umumnya) ialah mengkotakkan diri dalam ruang sempit
penelitian. Mengemis dana penelitian dari birokrat yang tak paham
penelitian. Lalu mendapatkan dana superkecil dari anggaran negara
yang memang tak peduli penelitian. Kemudian dipotong sana-sini oleh
oknum siluman. Maka, jadilah penelitian jadi-jadian. Hasilnya? No
money, no science, no dignity!
Saya setuju dengan pendapat Rektor ITB Kusmayanto Kadiman, bahwa ITB
belum saatnya disebut a research university. Meskipun ada kontroversi
di balik kisah Wolfram di atas, satu hal positif sudah jelas, ilmuwan
jenis baru harus mampu menggabungkan tiga peran sekaligus: peneliti,
marketer, dan eksekutif.
Saat negeri ini carut-marut dan tak punya uang, semakin absurd
rasanya mengharapkan dana riset dari negara. Mungkinkah para ilmuwan
kita meniru gaya Wolfram mencetak uang dengan dan dari ilmu mereka?
Tantangan ini lebih relevan buat Indonesia, karena metoda favorit
dalam mencari uang yang dipakai para pemegang kekuasaan di lembaga-
lembaga negara kita-seperti diberitakan koran tiap hari-ialah main
injak dan terkam warisan era-Ken Arok.
Padahal kata orang, kini era knowledge economy, di mana wealth
creation akan lebih mengandalkan kreativitas, inovasi teknologi, dan
pengetahuan intensif seperti didemonstrasikan Bill Gates dan Stephen
Wolfram; dan bukan tanah, ternak, atau mesin, let alone brute power.
Kalau ilmuwan-ilmuwan kita masa kini tidak bisa berkiprah lain
daripada apa yang lazim dan zalim di masa lampau, tampaknya satu-
satunya harapan kita ialah pada tunas-tunas belia yang bertarung di
Olimpiade Fisika minggu lalu. Untuk mereka, selamat dan semoga jaya.
Untuk panitia dan tim pelatih, terima kasih atas visi, kontribusi,
Bill Gates. Calon penggantinya bukan seorang computer nerd atau
venture capitalist, melainkan fisikawan muda jenius bernama Stephen
Wolfram. Ia baru saja menggemparkan jagat keilmuan dengan menerbitkan
dan meluncurkan sendiri magnum opusnya setebal 1.200 halaman lebih
berjudul The New Kind of Science (TNKS). Menurut sejumlah pembaca
awal di situs Amazon.com, buku ini dalam magnitude dan gaya
provokasinya dianggap setara dengan The Origin of Species-nya Charles
Darwin dan Das Kapital-nya Karl Marx.
Yang luar biasa, Wolfram juga wirausahawan tulen yang piawai
memasarkan dan menjual temuan-temuannya ke dunia bisnis yang makin
knowledge intensive. Sebagai multijutawan dollar barangkali ia
merupakan ilmuwan terkaya di dunia. Dengan kekayaan itu, ia mendanai
sendiri riset-risetnya sambil menjadi CEO bagi perusahaannya dengan
ratusan karyawan.
Dalam komunitas fisika, sejumlah tokoh tak ragu mengatakan kehebatan
Wolfram setara dengan dewa-dewa terpenting fisika seperti Galileo,
Newton, dan Einstein. Jika Galileo dikenang dengan Teori Pergerakan
Planet, Newton dengan Teori Gravitasi, dan Einstein dengan Teori
Relativitas, maka Wolfram dengan Cellular Automata.
Dengan perkakas ini, Wolfram mengklaim dapat memecahkan semua problem
fisika abad ke-20 yang sampai kini masih misterius seperti soal
relasi gaya-gaya elektromaknetik dan gravitasi. Dengan demikian
cellular automata boleh jadi akan memenuhi impian suntuk Einstein-
yang tak kesampaian hingga akhir hayatnya-akan adanya teori gabungan
(unified theory of everything) yang mampu menjelaskan semua fenomena
alam dan kosmos itu sendiri.
Namun, cellular automata lebih ambisius dari impian tertinggi
Einstein. Bukan saja di bidang fisika, perkakas Wolfram ditengarai
dapat menjelaskan serta memecahkan berbagai masalah fundamental dalam
biologi, matematika, kimia, computer science, bahkan wilayah-wilayah
lain yang secara tradisional dianggap di luar pengaruh fisika seperti
sosiologi, psikologi, ekonomi, juga teologi, seni, dan filsafat.
***
APAKAH cellular automata itu? Sederhananya, cellular automata adalah
sehimpunan proses fundamental peciptaan pola-pola keteraturan dengan
menggunakan komputer (computer-generated ordering process) yang
bentuk akhirnya sangat menyerupai apa yang terjadi di alam. Program
komputer Wolfram ini mengambil input data yang tidak teratur (bahkan
chaos), lalu diproses menggunakan sejumlah Aturan Wolfram, dan
akhirnya menghasilkan output gambar yang sangat mengagumkan baik
pola, kompleksitas, maupun derajat keteraturannya di layar komputer.
Dalam bukunya yang dipenuhi ratusan gambar itu, Wolfram menunjukkan
proses terciptanya berbagai bentuk pola-pola yang kompleks seperti
kristal es, bunga-bungaan, dedaunan, sebaran warna-warni bulu burung
merak, spiral galaksi, turbulensi air deras, jaringan sirkuit otak
manusia, badai topan, kulit kerang, lekak-lekuk sungai, pokoknya
berbagai macam bentuk output dari sistem operasi alam semesta.
Wolfram berpendapat bentuk-bentuk yang dihasilkan oleh cellular
automata itu bukan sekadar replika kebetulan dari fitur-fitur yang
ditemui di alam, tetapi sekaligus dapat menjelaskan bagaimana alam
bekerja pada tingkat paling fundamental. Karena itu, Wolfram tak ragu
berpendapat, program cellular automata akan menjadi metoda paling
ampuh yang dikenal umat manusia hingga kini, untuk memecahkan rahasia
alam, sekaligus menjelaskan arsitektur jagat raya dan evolusi segenap
bentuk kehidupan di dalamnya. Wolfram bahkan menengarai semesta alam
ini tidak lain adalah sebuah mahakomputer alami yang berperilaku
sebagai sebuah super cellular automata.
Di tingkat praktis, tidak saja celluar automata akan merevolusi jagat
sains secara radikal, tetapi Wolfram juga menjanjikan terbukanya
pintu gerbang lebar bagi lahirnya sejumlah besar teknologi baru dalam
waktu segera seperti komputer kuantum, supermikroteknik pada skala
atom, desain serta reparasi bagian-bagian jaringan dan organ tubuh,
materi baru, dan obat-obatan baru yang lebih ajaib khasiatnya.
Sungguh fantastis!
***
SIAPA gerangan sang jenius ini? Lahir tahun 1959 di London, Stephen
Wolfram adalah
a new kind of physicist. Ketika masih sekolah menengah di Eaton,
Inggris, ia belajar sendiri fisika tingkat advanced pada usia 12
tahun. Saat umurnya baru 15 tahun makalahnya di bidang fisika teori
sudah muncul di jurnal fisika.
Tak betah belajar dari guru dan dosen-menurut dia terlalu lamban-ia
lalu melahap berbagai buku teks kelas berat ketika teman seusianya
masih sibuk bermain Halloween dan bercinta monyet.
Pertama kali kuliah di Oxford, ia masuk semester satu. Sangat tidak
menarik baginya, ia langsung menghadiri kuliah semester enam. Juga
tidak cukup menarik, ia lalu memutuskan tidak pernah masuk kelas
lagi. "Saya dapat mengetahui berbagai hal jauh lebih cepat dan lebih
mendalam dengan membaca daripada mendengar dosen ngomong," begitu
alasannya menyebut kuliah sebagai kegiatan buang waktu.
Hebatnya, ia mampu menghasilkan puluhan makalah di bidang kosmologi
dan fisika partikel yang dimuat pada jurnal-jurnal fisika kelas
tinggi.
Tidak sampai tamat S1 dari Oxford, ia langsung direkrut oleh raksasa
fisika peraih nobel dari California Institute of Technology
(Caltech), Murray Gell-Man, tahun 1978. Wolfram langsung masuk
program doktor. Di kampus ini, di mana Richard Feynman, fisikawan
legendaris lainnya bermukim, Wolfram juga tampak kurang tertantang.
Agar ia betah, maka program doktor khusus diberikan padanya. Dalam
tempo setahun saja, ia mendapat PhD pada usia 20 tahun tanpa harus
membuat disertasi, tetapi cukup membundel ulang enam makalah
terbaiknya.
Pergaulan intelektual tingkat tinggi antara doktor remaja Wolfram
dengan fisikawan dewa sekelas Feynman dan Gell-Man tampaknya sanggup
membuatnya kerasan selama 10 tahun di Caltech. Tapi, akhirnya ia
bentrok juga dengan administratur institut itu perihal komersialisasi
temuan-temuannya.
Usia 31, ia diterima di Kampus Einstein yang legendaris, the
Institute for Advanced Studies di Princeton. Wolfram tercatat sebagai
anggota termuda institut itu sepanjang sejarah. Tapi, kampus
penelitian paling bebas di dunia ini pun ternyata tidak sanggup
menyediakan ruang bagi kebebasan gerak dan independensi intelektual
yang dituntut Wolfram.
Akhirnya tahun 1986 ia mendirikan Wolfram Research Inc, institusi
penelitian pribadinya. Di sinilah ia menggabungkan bisnis dan riset
secara bebas yang berpuncak pada lahirnya mahakarya TNKS yang
menggemparkan itu. Dalam rangka mengembangkan TNKS, Wolfram harus
pula mengarang Mathematica-sebuah sistem software yang digunakan
untuk keperluan komputasi teknikal dan pemrograman simbolik (symbolic
manipulation programming)-terlebih dahulu, yang sama raksasa bobotnya
dengan TNKS itu sendiri. Ini persis seperti Newton yang harus
mengarang dulu kalkulus diferensial agar bisa menjelaskan gravitasi
dan Einstein yang harus mengonstruksi dulu sebuah aljabar empat
dimensi agar bisa menjelaskan relativitas.
Bedanya, kedua pendahulu Wolfram itu cuma ilmuwan murni yang hidup
dari dana negara sedangkan Wolfram sekaligus entrepreneur kawakan
yang jago mencetak duit gede dalam setiap langkahnya menuju puncak
sains tertinggi.
***
KISAH Wolfram tampaknya tak pernah dibayangkan orang ketika
memikirkan fisika. Bagi awam, fisika adalah ilmu esoteris yang tak
jelas manfaat praktisnya. Sarjana fisika biasanya kere tak berduit.
Pekerjaan mereka paling-paling jadi dosen.
Otak mereka dipenuhi atom-atom, galaksi-galaksi, dan persamaan-
persamaan matematika yang eksotis, tetapi kantung mereka enggak gaul.
Wacana mereka makro-makro tapi dompet super mikro. Konon Einstein
sendiri pun pernah mengatakan, "Science is a wonderful thing if one
does not have to earn one's living at it."
Alhasil, citra fisikawan memang jauh dari menarik. Sampai hari ini
pun fisika tidak pernah menjadi pilihan utama bagi kebanyakan
mahasiswa cerdas namun tetap ingin hidup keren berkecukupan.
Sekitar tiga dekade lalu, jurusan fisika ITB bahkan harus menawarkan
beasiswa bagi siapa saja yang bersedia masuk fisika jika lulus ujian
masuk. Banyak input jurusan fisika saat itu merupakan mahasiswa kere.
Sebagian lagi, terjebak oleh citra di atas, lalu hengkang dan testing
ulang ke jurusan teknik.
Memang ada juga minoritas yang hebat otaknya, termotivasi oleh the
beauty of physics itu sendiri, menganggap mencari duit sebagai
kegiatan yang inferior, memutuskan mendalami fisika sampai ke tulang
sumsum. Namun, makhluk seperti ini dianggap aneh oleh masyarakat.
Orangtua pun biasanya tidak mengizinkan anaknya memilih fisika.
Bahkan, seorang ibunda Evelyne Mintarno pun, yang anaknya berhasil
menjadi satu-satunya peserta putri dari Indonesia dalam Olimpide
Fisika 2002 di Bali, belum merelakan putrinya memilih fisika karena
terbelenggu anggapan fisikawan hanya bisa jadi guru. Padahal putrinya
yang hebat itu, selain meminati sungguh fisika sudah diterima di
universitas bergengsi, Stanford. (Kompas, 24/7)
***
KIPRAH para fisikawan sesungguhnya tidaklah sesempit menjadi dosen
saja. Ilmu fisika yang selalu terobsesi dengan perkara-perkara
fundamental, perumusan dan pemecahan masalah secara elegan, dengan
disiplin berpikir yang rigor konseptual, sebenarnya lebih dari cukup
sebagai bekal hidup penuh makna, termasuk hidup makmur kalau mau.
Sisanya adalah minat, ambisi, dan etos kerja.
Selain menjadi peneliti dan guru, banyak sarjana fisika Indonesia
akhirnya menjadi eksekutif bisnis (seperti Harianto Mangkusasono dan
Charlo Mamora, terakhir keduanya menjadi konsultan pengembangan dan
transformasi bisnis), rohaniwan (seperti Pater Drost), ekonom
(seperti Rizal Ramli dan Umar Juoro, meskipun keduanya tidak
menamatkan fisika), dan terbanyak menjadi profesional di berbagai
bidang (misalnya IT, perminyakan, elektronika, otomotif, pers, SDM,
pertambangan, perbankan) termasuk menjadi wiraswastawan. Intinya,
dari fisika orang bisa ke mana-mana, tergantung minat, stamina juang,
dan sekali lagi etos kerja.
Ke depan, seiring dengan munculnya fenomena Wolfram di atas, dapat
diharapkan semakin banyak orang-orang muda yang terinspirasi menjadi
fisikawan-hartawan. Mengapa tidak? Dalam dunia di mana kapitalisme
global semakin meraja, semakin diperlukan sumbangan berbagai jenis
inovasi berbasis fisika untuk menciptakan business value yang hebat-
hebat.
Wolfram membuktikan, meraih kemakmuran tidak berarti mengorbankan
ilmu, atau sebaliknya, berilmu tinggi tidak harus jadi miskin.
Wolfram mendemonstrasikan sebuah paradigma baru. Menjual fisika untuk
uang, dengan uang mendanai riset fisika, dan dengan uang cukup mampu
memperoleh independensi berkarya, dengan sebuah side effect yang tak
kalah menarik: hidup enak dan bermartabat.
Salah satu problem besar fisikawan murni Indonesia (ilmuwan berbasis
universitas umumnya) ialah mengkotakkan diri dalam ruang sempit
penelitian. Mengemis dana penelitian dari birokrat yang tak paham
penelitian. Lalu mendapatkan dana superkecil dari anggaran negara
yang memang tak peduli penelitian. Kemudian dipotong sana-sini oleh
oknum siluman. Maka, jadilah penelitian jadi-jadian. Hasilnya? No
money, no science, no dignity!
Saya setuju dengan pendapat Rektor ITB Kusmayanto Kadiman, bahwa ITB
belum saatnya disebut a research university. Meskipun ada kontroversi
di balik kisah Wolfram di atas, satu hal positif sudah jelas, ilmuwan
jenis baru harus mampu menggabungkan tiga peran sekaligus: peneliti,
marketer, dan eksekutif.
Saat negeri ini carut-marut dan tak punya uang, semakin absurd
rasanya mengharapkan dana riset dari negara. Mungkinkah para ilmuwan
kita meniru gaya Wolfram mencetak uang dengan dan dari ilmu mereka?
Tantangan ini lebih relevan buat Indonesia, karena metoda favorit
dalam mencari uang yang dipakai para pemegang kekuasaan di lembaga-
lembaga negara kita-seperti diberitakan koran tiap hari-ialah main
injak dan terkam warisan era-Ken Arok.
Padahal kata orang, kini era knowledge economy, di mana wealth
creation akan lebih mengandalkan kreativitas, inovasi teknologi, dan
pengetahuan intensif seperti didemonstrasikan Bill Gates dan Stephen
Wolfram; dan bukan tanah, ternak, atau mesin, let alone brute power.
Kalau ilmuwan-ilmuwan kita masa kini tidak bisa berkiprah lain
daripada apa yang lazim dan zalim di masa lampau, tampaknya satu-
satunya harapan kita ialah pada tunas-tunas belia yang bertarung di
Olimpiade Fisika minggu lalu. Untuk mereka, selamat dan semoga jaya.
Untuk panitia dan tim pelatih, terima kasih atas visi, kontribusi,
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