It's a legend that's often told about Tesla as well: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=183998 http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=183

It's a legend that's often told about Tesla as well: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=183998 http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=183998 http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp There's a really similar story about Picasso asked by a lady in a restaurant to draw a simple sketch on a napkin. He does and hands it to her saying, "That will be [X] thousand dollars". Shocked, she says: "But that only took you 30 seconds!" "Madam", says Picasso, "It took me thirty years."