It is striking how many of the greatest breakthroughs in science have been made by polymaths. Newton and Einstein are the obvious two. So what has happened to these greatest of thinkers? Today, the received wisdom is that depth as opposed to breadth is not only what counts but is all that is possible. Interdisciplinary work is engaged at an academic's own risk.

The Royal Institution has been exploring what is lost to science when the discipline generates only specialist experts, asking questions such as whether polymaths should, somehow, be nurtured as much as specialists are. It sounds pretty much like Lee Smolin's complaint, reported here about the need for seers.

On Wednesday 16th May the RI is holding a debate on the subject of polymathy. There was a preview yesterday on the BBC's The Material World.

Incidentally, it strikes me that the same could be said for many disciplines, not just science. In fact, I've an article that I believe will be in the FT Magazine tomorrow, making a not unrelated point in relation to philosophy.