Happy Birthday Albert!

Celebrating Einstein

Today is the birthday of a small non-descript former patent clerk who, unlike any human being before him or after him, changed the world. I am not into celebrities but if he was alive today I would be as excited to catch a glimpse of him as any teenage girl that waits outdoors in freezing temperatures to see her idol.

Albert Einstein was chosen by Time Magazine as the man of the 20th century. If I recall correctly, the reason they chose him was because Einstein’s ideas came from left field, out of nowhere or better yet, out of his fertile mind. Before he came up with his vision of the universe there was not even a hint that anyone else was dreaming about this. When Einstein’s theory of relativity was confirmed in 1919 at the joint meeting of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society in London, the president started by stating that as of today the world has changed. Everything, indeed, changed.

But it is not only the great scientific ideas that Einstein had that I admire. It is his approach to life in general. Is there a cyclist in the world who has not seen the wild hair and smile of Einstein on a bike? Einstein loved life, beauty, simplicity. “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle”. He loved his small sailing boat, he loved playing on his violin and he despised stupidity. “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”

A little challenge

In his honour and in the celebration of his thoughts we have set up a little challenge. Einstein said:  “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand” and “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions“.

So with this in mind let your imagination soar and finish the thought below in the comments field. And remember as Albert said: “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” or more to the point: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”

“Brilliant man, brilliant machine ……..