On unique combinations.
From the July/August '09 issue of Discover, article "Return of the Invisible Man", by Tim Folger (emphasis mine):
"I ask Stanford cosmologist Andrei Linde what the world of physics would be without [Stephen] Hawking's contributions. 'That's a tough one,' he replies. 'Nature abhors empty spaces. Stephen made big jumps to new theories. Maybe somebody else would have come and done something comparable. It probably would not have happened for quite a while -- for how long, I don't know. But this combination of enormous creativity and honesty and fighting with external circumstances, this is something that doesn't happen often, and it influences all of us. You start thinking, measuring yourself with people like that; it creates an atmosphere of high science. So while the discoveries may have happened, his combination of qualities is unique.'"
Just something that caught my attention the other night. I understand the context in which Linde meant the comment, but I think it carries over, outside of the realm of science and people who have already carved their names into history. I think we all have unique combinations of qualities.
"I ask Stanford cosmologist Andrei Linde what the world of physics would be without [Stephen] Hawking's contributions. 'That's a tough one,' he replies. 'Nature abhors empty spaces. Stephen made big jumps to new theories. Maybe somebody else would have come and done something comparable. It probably would not have happened for quite a while -- for how long, I don't know. But this combination of enormous creativity and honesty and fighting with external circumstances, this is something that doesn't happen often, and it influences all of us. You start thinking, measuring yourself with people like that; it creates an atmosphere of high science. So while the discoveries may have happened, his combination of qualities is unique.'"
Just something that caught my attention the other night. I understand the context in which Linde meant the comment, but I think it carries over, outside of the realm of science and people who have already carved their names into history. I think we all have unique combinations of qualities.