Einstein — and the Vanity of Academia

Abstract

It is a labour of love to put down, not methodically, not genuflecting, but in a desultory, vague, rambling mode a few reminiscences of the most consummate, momentous thinker this age of unparalleled advance in theoretical physics, astrophysics, and biophysics can boast of. The reader will hopefully, if not graciously, forgive me for not cumbering him in these personal reflections with technical excursions. The seminal role Einstein played and still occupies in the most crucial domains of physical reasoning is commonplace. Besides, any form of hagiography, of idolatry had always been repulsive to him. Hence, I shall not resort to hyperbole or worse still, to an apotheosis. Be it as it may, I am confident that “Dieu me pardonnera — c’est Son métier.”