Today, I am asked about my own PhD, and I must confess that it is not a good example to give to students, because as I had no master, no professor, I "invented" everything by myself, and there are a lot of methodological mistakes.
Today, I would do much better, keeping in mind that 3
keywords, safety, quality, traceability.
And the main advice that I would give to student is: do it quantitative, always, and follow closely the scientific method:
1. identification of a phenomenon
2. quantitative characterization of the phenomenon being investigated
3. grouping the data in equations (formerly called "laws")
4. inducing concepts to add to the equations, so that a "theory" is built
5. draw theoretical consequences of the theory ("predictions", i.e. "if the theory holds, then...")
6. test the predictions experimentally
etc. in a circle, with more and more precise quantitative description of the phenomenon.
Celebrate physical-chemistry !
