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Re: Why haven't we had another scientific revolution in physics yet? Hasn't it been long enough since general relativity and quantum mechanics? - Quora

From	Odd Bodkin <bodkinodd@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	sci.physics.relativity
Subject	Re: Why haven't we had another scientific revolution in physics yet? Hasn't it been long enough since general relativity and quantum mechanics? - Quora
Date	2018-08-09 21:53 +0000
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<pkid51$1kjl$1@gioia.aioe.org> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <e93a5edb-c10d-5c64-22a7-c86084b39f52@PointedEars.de> <d6f61e27-707f-4802-be11-373b62c2a482@googlegroups.com> <f0ec9f44-73dc-a5e0-0bf1-49c315dc2cf2@PointedEars.de> <1c1e53b9-41a4-4ee0-8332-da243e4b40c3@googlegroups.com> <44e2fa0a-32e9-b4b6-9f62-e52c3283dd99@PointedEars.de>

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Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> wrote:
> Prokaryotic Caspase Homolog wrote:
>> On Thursday, August 9, 2018 at 1:45:02 PM UTC-5, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> - Einstein must have thoroughly disliked, if not hated, working as a clerk
>>> at the wiss Patent Office in Bern as he must have found the repetitive
>>> work boring and he was averse to all authority (including his boss there,
>>> then); 
>> 
>> Actually, all the biographies that I have read
> 
> Which would be *one*?
> 
>> indicate that Einstein rather enjoyed the work, and it allowed him much
>> spare time that he could
>> devote to his real interests.
> 
> Think about what you are saying there.  Having a full-time job with
> “much spare time” is a contradiction in terms.

Uh, no. You’d be very surprised how many full time jobs have idle time. 

> 
>> […] As I wrote in my Wikipedia article:
> … that apparently you created in April this year …
> 
>> Einstein had a highly visual understanding of physics. His 
>> work in the patent office "stimulated [him] to see the physical 
>> ramifications of theoretical concepts." These aspects of his 
>> thinking style inspired him to fill his papers with vivid 
>> practical detail making them quite different from, say, the 
>> papers of Lorentz or Maxwell. This included his use of thought 
>> experiments.
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%27s_thought_experiments
> 
> This quotation from Walter Isaacson’s 2007 Einstein biography (you should
> have indicated the actual source here, too) does not show at all that
> Einstein “rather enjoyed the *work*” at the Patent Office (emphasis mine).
> It only shows that he was interested in and inspired by the inventions,
> which is unsurprising.
> 
> It is true (by Einstein’s letters to Prof. Alfred Stern and to Mileva Marić)
> that he was actively seeking a permanent position there in 1901 and was
> looking forward to working there.  But as I indicated, it is out of
> character for Einstein to enjoy *repetitive* work in an *office* job under
> a *boss*, that he would *rather* do that than work on his theories.
> 
> <https://arxiv.org/pdf/1205.4335.pdf>
> 
>> However, absolutely nowhere, except in your post, have I ever seen 
>> it claimed that Besso did Einstein's patent office work for him.
> 
> Learn to read comprehensively.
> 
> One simply cannot actually work full-time in an office job, and work on a
> doctoral thesis and four ground-breaking scientific papers at the same time.
>  If you have ever written any thesis (doctoral or otherwise), you know that
> this is not possible, except if the subject pertains directly to your office
> job (and that was not the case with Einstein).
> 
> Now, we do not know (or do you?) whether Einstein worked there full-time –
> in today’s Switzerland at least you can work on “percentages” (I am working
> 40 % to 60 % while studying) –; however, if he did not work there full-time,
> then how could he have supported his family, which was one main reason to
> look for this job in the first place?  This job was/is well-paid, but I
> doubt that it was *that* well-paid that he could have worked 50 % or less
> and still support a family in Switzerland (although wages are high in
> Switzerland, especially when employed by the canton or the State, cost of
> living is also high).
> 
> It is easy to enjoy the work, and remember the time fondly, if your best
> buddy is/was doing (most of) it for you (and likes it).
> 
> Watch “Genius”.  Although they probably have taken some artistic license, I
> find it convincing.
> 
> Trim your quotes.
> 
> Get a real name.
> 



-- 
Odd Bodkin — Maker of fine toys, tools, tables

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