Ten Simple Rules for Lifelong Learning, According to Hamming

Learning is a lifelong imperative for any scientist, and Richard Hamming provided timeless advice on how to achieve this. In this sequel to our 2007 contribution to the Ten Simple Rules series [2], we attempt to distil the essence of what this mathematician and computer science and telecommunications pioneer addressed in one of his talks [3] and in his book The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn [4]. Hamming developed both the talk and the book as a synthesis of his graduate course in engineering at the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. We have organized his authoritative advice into ten rules. We believe these will equip the reader to more confidently face the unremitting emergence of an exponentially increasing amount of new knowledge, coupled with the equally relentless obsolescence of established knowledge, in a world containing a greater number of scientists than ever before. Our rules promote a certain “style of thinking.” They also emphasize orientation towards the future and—we hope—will help the reader learn how to learn while motivating him or her to continue learning throughout life.