I’ve also read it several times before that physicists and scientists tend to achieve their best results by their mid-thirties. But I don’t think the characterization necessarily works for physics/math/etc. like it does for baseball and athletics. There’s just a major qualitative difference there—e.g., athletes are forced to retire fairly young, whereas teachers are very rarely forced to retire until they are really nearing the end of their viable lifespan. Although I do agree that in something like physics, there is also a component of “mental athleticism”, which just naturally peaks at a medium or youthful age.
Also, for a lot of subjects like physics or math, you probably won’t be able to have a decent mastery of your work until around, say, age 25-35. So the simple fact of the matter is that you will always be past your peak for the majority of your practicing career. It’s a bit sad, but again, I think it just shows that the concept of “peaking” may not be really as broadly applicable for academic areas.
I’ve also read it several times before that physicists and scientists tend to achieve their best results by their mid-thirties. But I don’t think the characterization necessarily works for physics/math/etc. like it does for baseball and athletics. There’s just a major qualitative difference there—e.g., athletes are forced to retire fairly young, whereas teachers are very rarely forced to retire until they are really nearing the end of their viable lifespan. Although I do agree that in something like physics, there is also a component of “mental athleticism”, which just naturally peaks at a medium or youthful age.
Also, for a lot of subjects like physics or math, you probably won’t be able to have a decent mastery of your work until around, say, age 25-35. So the simple fact of the matter is that you will always be past your peak for the majority of your practicing career. It’s a bit sad, but again, I think it just shows that the concept of “peaking” may not be really as broadly applicable for academic areas.