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Einstein the catalyst

MAR 01, 1979
His bold and iconoclastic style and his pioneering endorsement of other people’s revolutionary ideas influenced many important twentieth‐century physicists.
Banesh Hoffmann

The celebrations held this year in honor of the centennial of Albert Einstein’s birth will certainly bring forth lengthy discussions of his special and general theories of relativity and his contributions to quantum physics and other topics. This being so, I want to avoid what may prove to be beaten paths and to recall here instead an aspect of his work that may be overlooked in the torrent of reports and comments on his many achievements. That aspect is the effect of his style and his example on other major creative scientific figures, and, linked to this, his recognition of the merits of other people’s seemingly bizarre ideas.

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More about the Authors

Banesh Hoffmann. Queens College of the City University of New York.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 32, Number 3

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