"?" "!" （5/31投稿の記事の翻訳）

It is said that the shortest letter exchange in the world is the "?" and "!". Victor Hugo (1802-1885), a great writer, who was concerned about the sales of his newly published "Les Misérables," sent a letter to the publisher with “?” in the middle of his letter paper, meaning to ask, "Is my book selling well?" The publisher replied with a "!", meaning "Of course, it's selling!"

As a former researcher, I thought about what kind of research is good research. I had the opportunity to read some "useful papers" and hear some "inspiring lectures." Many of them included a "?" and a "!". In other words, when you read the title, abstract, and preface, you should be thinking, "Is this useful?" "Is this possible?" "Does this work?"

In short, there must be something unexpected. When you finish reading a paper, or at the end of a lecture, there should be a "!” meaning "That makes sense!" and "Interesting!"

Looking back on my life, I am not sure how much I have done to meet the above criteria. More than a quarter of a century ago, I had the opportunity to present my experiment results to Dr. Tihiro Ohkawa [1 and 2], who has made many original achievements in the field of nuclear fusion. He rarely praised anybody, but after our short discussion, he said, "Interesting!" That one word gave me confidence in myself. After retiring from the institute, I continue to work with the university faculty as a part-time volunteer, and my goal is to do work that meets the above criteria.

Couldn't the same be said for blogs like this one? My goal is to have my readers first feel surprised (?) but then feel, "That makes sense!" "Interesting!" afterwards.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tihiro_Ohkawa（English）

[2] https://fusion-holy-grail.net/ (English, partially Japanese)