Bravo to Einstein’s humility. Science, institutional religion, medicine, and politics that cannot tolerate disruption, dispute, or even discussion… should be ashamed.
Landau questioned the celebrated world famous authority, Einstein, on topics such as quantum mechanics and unified field theory. Landau wasn’t trying to be a troublemaker. He just needed evidence stronger than Einstein had presented, and asked for that evidence respectfully. No one would’ve been happier than Landau to applaud Einstein had Dr. Albert produced answers to his questions. Landau had no grievance, and was genuinely excited about Einstein’s contributions to relativity, as an example.
And Einstein understood truth was more important than his ego. Einstein was only trying to advance the ball of truth down the field. Where is that attitude in today’s world?! Far lesser men and women than Einstein will die on the hill of “how dare you question me?“
I distinctly remember an international rooftop vista conversation with a Harvard colleague, a high profile Department leader, grumbling to me at the audacity of her highly successful students daring to question her research conclusions. She should’ve been more than happy to learn from them — since most of them could have bought and sold her 100 times due to their successes in the field she was teaching in.
Don’t be unteachable, regardless of your “expertise.”
And don’t be a “lemming” by refusing to respectfully dig deeper in search for real answers when the answers (so far) seem flawed or incomplete.
Thanks Lawrence Rogak for the nod to history and honesty.
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A GREAT STORY WITH AN IMPORTANT MORAL
Below is the portrait of a young Lev Davidovich Landau, who dared to publicly question Albert Einstein.
Einstein was speaking at a German Physical Society conference held in Leipzig in 1930, and presented his equations on a blackboard.
After the president of the association praised Einstein for his great speech to thunderous applause, he asked if anyone in the audience had any questions. For a little while, silence prevailed. Who would dare to question Einstein, one of the world’s most respected physicists?
Landau, then 22, stood up and said, “What Professor Einstein said is not stupid, but the second equation he wrote does not follow from the first. In fact, it requires further assumptions that have not been made and, what is worse, it does not satisfy a criterion of invariance, as it should instead be.”
Every head in that room full of scientists turned to Landau, in astonishment and amusement at this “kid” who dared to dispute Albert Einstein.
But Einstein was deeply lost in thought as he scrutinized his said equation on the blackboard, almost transfixed by the new revelation, except for his hand, which was mechanically scratching his mustache.
After what appeared to be 60 seconds or so, Einstein turned around, and said:
“The observation of that young man over there is perfectly correct. I therefore ask you to forget everything I have said to you today.”
Landau went on to become the leading theoretical physicist of the Soviet Union.
Today, political hacks and their ignorant lemmings caution us not to question science, because they are so heavily invested in their climate religion that they would collapse psychologically and financially if their sacred beliefs were ever cast into doubt.
And the moral of the story is: real science doesn’t mind questions. If Einstein could be wrong, so can the scientists whose continued government grants depend on maintaining climate fears.
Source: “The ABC’s of Science” by Giuseppe Mussardo, 2020, Springer.
