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This is usually attributed to Einstein (but I can't find a definitive reference): "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your gran
by pierrefar 16y ago
This is usually attributed to Einstein (but I can't find a definitive reference): "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother". Clearly he has a way to go still.
- roadnottaken 16y agoI think the quote is from Richard Feynman: "If you can't explain something to a first year student, then you haven't really understood it." Although WikiQuotes says it's unsourced: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Richard_Feynman http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Richard_Feynman
- jleader 16y agoWhether he said it or not, he definitely practiced it. For many years, Feynman taught an informal seminar for freshmen at Caltech, called "Physics X", at which he offered to answer any physics questions the freshmen could come up with.
- lesterbuck 16y agoNot quite any physics questions. Feynman imposed a rule that he would "not take any question the answer to which did not match the impedance of your knowledge." So a freshman asking "What is quantum chromodynamics?" was gently nudged into a simpler answer that they might learn something from.
- lovskogen 16y agoDidn't Einstein say: "If you can't explain it easily, you don't know it good enough."?