The Novel A Short history of nearly everything tells us a great deal about this office clerk!
Lets call him sam!
No fun in getting to the point so soon anyway!
So apparently Sam hated wearing socks and could not drive! He later on won a Nobel Prize in physics but actually could not drive a car!
He had some of the highest IQ scores in the world but could not even remember names, dates or even phone numbers!
He was so quirky and loved playing the violin so much so that he named his violin LINA and never forgot that name!
His theories and postulations are groundbreaking and even now difficult to understand but apparently he did not even learn to speak until he was four years old and reportedly repeated sentences to himself until he was seven!
Finally when he did not get any job anywhere even as a junior teacher since apparently he was not knowledgeable enough!
While working as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, he secretly developed his groundbreaking 1905 physics papers, calling the office his “worldly cloister”!
Sam did not win his Nobel Prize for the theory of relativity, but rather for his work on the photoelectric effect! Though it was the former for which he is most famous!
You got who Sam is now I hope! Of course Einstein!
But (the return of the but!); the whole deal about him not being good in studies is actually a myth!
As a child and young student in Germany, Einstein consistently earned high marks and was at the top of his class in math and science. By age 15, he had already mastered calculus!
What did you do when you turned 15!? Drive a car!?
Then again the rumor that he failed school likely started because the grading system in Switzerland (where he later went to school) reversed its scale!
A top grade changed from a 6 to a 1, and people mistakenly thought his high marks were failing grades!
Now, when he was 16, he did fail the general entrance exam for the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich.
However, he passed the math and physics portions easily. He failed the non-science sections, like botany, zoology, and languages, because he was two years younger than the other applicants. He returned a year later after studying those subjects and passed!
So he may be simple and ordinary in some aspects but he was actually brilliant with a T!
Also did you know that after his death in 1955, his brain was removed without his family’s initial permission by pathologist Dr. Thomas Harvey so scientists could study the physical anatomy behind his genius!
Also in 1952, he was offered the role of the second President of his home country, but he politely declined, stating he lacked the natural aptitude and experience for dealing with people!
So what did you learn!? Do not wear socks and do not drive a car may win you a NOBEL!? I hope not!
Of course some legends are natural! Like Madhavan Nair aka Madhu!
Shub ratri…
