Overlooked by many during the pandemic last year was an important analytical piece by a CalTech professor. She based her article on the latest published collection of Albert Einstein's letters and writings.
<https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/not-lone-genius>
According to legend, Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of.
But as with most myths, the truth is more complex. According to The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars, Einstein worked with many collaborators and was deeply enmeshed in the world of science.
Einstein's native language was German so his writings have had to be translated for the rest of us to read them. All of the volumes are now available in English and free in electronic formats.
The CalTech article, written by Prof. Diana Kormos-Buchwald, notes that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his first wife, Mileva Marić.
He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.
Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred:
"I just don't know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work..."
Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas.
But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.
And there might be a lesson in that for all of the rest of us.
***
I've spent so much time publishing here at Facebook during the pandemic that I've sort of neglected other channels like LinkedIn. But that changed on Friday when I debuted a new column at LinkedIn.
For now my plan is to write it occasionally and see what the response is like. For my Facebook friends, here is that first column published yesterday:
Friday, June 18, 2021
So You're Going Back to the Office, eh?
Here are five related trending topics on LinkedIn this week. I'll take them on one at a time:
• Are visible tattoos okay at work?
It all depends where you work. If you are in a consumer-facing job with customers of various ages and backgrounds, like a doctor's office, then no, visible tattoos are not a good idea. But if you work in Starbucks or a bike shop, go for it. And if you are starting new job in a marijuana dispensary, dude, please get a tattoo!
• Does a “dream job” really exist?
No. That kind of job exists in your dreams. When you're awake, the only way to get one is to create it yourself. That's why some people start companies. I did.
• What advice would you give to your younger self?
My younger self needed to take more chances and try more things while I still could. He needed to cause a bit more trouble in the world. He needed to realize that there is going to be an end to all of this, and it's going to come sooner than you think.
• What do you think about a five-hour work day?
Now I'm retired, I work a five-hour day. I wake up and write for five hours and give the stories away for free. Then I party the rest of the time. You might give that a try.
• Here's what's luring people back to offices.
The myth is that offices are mainly about the work. Offices are about the people; the work can be done anywhere, as we all realized during the pandemic. Humans are social creatures; whether we acknowledge it or not we need each other. Hopefully more people will remember that coming out of the pandemic.
Besides, and this is really important. The best work is almost always done collaboratively, by teams. The individual superstar is pretty much an urban myth. Hell, even Albert Einstein didn't work alone.
***
P.S. The response was terrific -- 157 reactions and 49 comments, mostly about tattoos.
***
The news:
* Conservative Supreme Court? It's Actually 3-3-3. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, demonstrated their collective power at America's highest court on Thursday. They fueled the Supreme Court's limited opinions on Obamacare and religious liberty, in action that marks a twist for the conservative-dominated bench and adds to the suspense of the next two weeks as the court finishes its annual term. (CNN)
* A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It. -- A new $3.2 billion program will support the development of antiviral pills, which could start arriving by the end of this year. (NYT)
* Poll: Many Americans resuming pre-virus activities (AP)
* Juneteenth holiday marking end of slavery becomes law after decades of inaction (WP)
* Half of GOP voters believe that Arizona Republicans' sham "audit" of the 2020 election could generate some sort of evidence that leads to Donald Trump's reinstatement as president. Trump still puts out several statements a week lying that the election was stolen. [HuffPost]
* Where was the FBI before the attack on the Capitol? (WP)
* California farmers struggle under severe drought (Reuters)
* New Wildfires Are At A 10-Year High In The Hot, Dry Western U.S. (NPR)
* Unrelenting U.S. Southwest heatwave continues as power grids hold up (Reuters)
* Obamacare has survived over 2000 attempts to kill it (CNN)
* Many Expected to Shun Iran Vote Seen as Presidential Race of One -- An ultraconservative judiciary chief appears to have the only real chance of winning after a council of powerful clerics disqualified virtually all the other viable candidates. (NYT)
* Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip late Thursday for a second time since a shaky cease-fire ended last month’s 11-day war. The strikes came after activists mobilized by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers launched incendiary balloons into Israel for a third straight day. There were no immediate reports of casualties. [AP]
* Elite Afghan Forces Suffer Horrific Casualties as Taliban Advance -- At least 24 commandos were killed in one battle in the Afghan north, and that kind of stark loss is playing out across the country: “We mourn. The Taliban celebrate. And it hurts too much.” (NYT)
* The House of Representatives voted to repeal the 2002 legislation that permitted the invasion of Iraq, in a big win for critics of American foreign policy. Withdrawing the authorization wouldn't immediately end any current U.S. military operations but would be a step toward reforming Washington's approach to global affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Tuesday on whether to repeal the 2002 authorization. [HuffPost]
* China Weighs Lifting Birth Restrictions Completely by 2025 (WSJ)
* Israeli Officer Who Killed Autistic Palestinian Man Charged With Manslaughter -- The indictment came more than a year after the fatal shooting. The family of the victim protested the charges as too lenient, calling them “unjust” and “unacceptable.” (NYT)
* St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters plead guilty, will give up firearms (WP)
* The government’s new online portal for America’s poorest families to receive the child tax credit is proving too difficult to use and could hinder the Biden administration’s efforts to cut child poverty. The government will start distributing monthly checks to parents as part of the American Rescue Plan, but the website is inaccessible to many and plagued with issues. [HuffPost]
* Google's adtech business set to face formal EU probe by year-end (Reuters)
* Google searches for new measure of skin tones to curb bias in products (Reuters)
* Weird ‘living fossil’ fish lives 100 years, pregnant for 5 (AP)
* The Boy Who Learned to See—And What He Teaches Us About Vision-- At age 15, Liam McCoy underwent surgery to allow him to see clearly for the first time. But repairing his eyes was easier than retraining his brain. (WSJ)
* Bear goes on rampage in Japan, storms military base, airport (WP)
* Museum Head: Baseball's Embrace Of Negro Leagues Is An Atonement, Not A Validation -- Baseball's box scores instantly turn human accomplishments into history. But for decades, Negro League players' statistics were kept segregated from other major leagues. (NPR)
* Not Real News: A look at what didn’t happen this week (AP)
* Report: Only 3% Of Conversations Actually Need To Happen (The Onion)
***
"We're All in This Together" (excerpt)
Songwriters: Nevil Robert S / Gerrard Matthew R T
We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true
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