“Research is a Nuisance” (Non Sequitur, March 12, 2023)
by Wiley Miller (1951-)
16.66 x 6.33 in., ink on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Miller

In 1991, Wiley launched his popular Non Sequitur strip, eventually syndicated to 700 newspapers as well as published on Go Comics and distributed via email. The strip oscillates between one-panel commentary and stories with recurring characters. In either event, the strips have a history of politically leaning and sharp commentary. I really wanted Danae’s commentary in the last panel, not only because it was so representative of the anti-intellectualistic, post-truth world (“Research is a stupid nuisance that takes the fun out of stuff you think is probably right.”)

I asked Wiley to inscribe the strip with one of my all-time favorite quotes about science. From 1834, the letters from Liebig to Berzelius, that I stumbled upon by accident and understood just enough German to recognize as interesting:

Die schönsten Theorien werden durch die verdammten Versuche über den Haufen geworfen, es ist gar keine Freude mehr Chemiker zu sein.

… which, roughly, translates as “The most beautiful theories are thrown onto the heap by these damned experiments, it is no fun at all to be a chemist any more.”