Guenter Wildgruber <gwildgru...@ymail.com> wrote: > > b) the ones being humble enough to recognize that they stand on the > shoulders of giants, as maybe Einstein did. > > Can you imagine Einstein aspiring being a billionaire? >
Einstein was an ambitious young man, looking for "main chance" in physics. He was not even a little bit humble, although it was the style back then to talk as if you were. He drove a hard bargain in 1911, when he negotiated a professorship in Berlin. He got ". . . a ridiculous offer, far and away the best deal any European thinker could hope for." This included "Academy membership, directorship of the new physics institute, a generous salary and professorship without teaching responsibilities." (Levenson, "Einstein in Berlin.") He was no ivory tower academic. He understood political power and how to cut deals to his own advantage. He also understood his own considerable charisma and sex appeal. He had the kind of face and manners that "set women's hearts pitter-pattering" in 1900. (I don't recall the source of that delicious quote.) In the 1920s and 30s he was "a good catch" having numerous affairs with famous women. He enjoyed wealth and power. He was also cruel to his first wife and children. Those biographical details have no bearing on his accomplishments, and are of no importance. But to describe Einstein, of all people, as being humble or selfless is ridiculous. He was a nice fellow by all accounts, except to his own immediate family. He got along well with his second wife, his cousin, because she treated him as Herr Doctor Professor, bringing him a sweater and never asking him to deal with tedious affairs of daily life. More like a servant than a wife, by modern American standards. - Jed
