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> Those with less than perfect grades might go on to dream up blockbuster films like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg or become entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs,
by droithomme 12y ago
> Those with less than perfect grades might go on to dream up blockbuster films like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg or become entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Barbara Corcoran and Richard Branson.
Alternatively, one might observe that modern colleges are for the mediocre, noting that college had little to offer the cited personalities and would likely have at best delayed their path, or more likely, prevent them from achieving what they did by socializing them into conformity and obedience of authority and convention.
We may certainly choose to daydream that "If only Steve Jobs and George Lucas had completed more college than they did, maybe they could have done something even more amazing", as if college has this effect on people. (Lucas has two degrees, so it's unclear what the article's author is really meaning to say about him, apparently that the author thinks he should have gone beyond a Bachelors.)
- sliverstorm 12y agoIt really would have to depend on your field, wouldn't it? There are no George Lucases or Steve Jobses of theoretical physics.
- xiaoma 12y agoI can think of one historical figure who fit the bill. Michael Faraday, who established the basis for the concept of an EM field, had very little formal education. For such a person to rise to prominence in physics was as unthinkable in his day is it is now. He was apprenticed to a local bookbinder and bookseller at age 14 and became a voracious reader as a teenager. He later wrote that one of the books he read during that time changed his life—Improvement of the Mind, by Isaac Watts. He rigorously applied the personal development principles within and began studying science on his own from the book shop. He started attending public lectures of a prominent chemist, taking copious notes on lectures and sharing them with others. He gave the chemist he'd been following a 300 page book based on the lecture notes and the chemist later hired him as a secretary! He had to endure a multitude of slights in the company of other scientists due to having humble beginnings while they were almost universally gentlemen, but it was his ticket in. Once he was working as a prominent scientist's secretary, he had access to the scientists' professional circles, if not social circles. He relentlessly continued his studies and got so good that people could no longer ignore him. Within a couple of decades, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford and he eventually became the most prominent physicist in the world. There are probably similar stories of slightly less prominent physicists in this century, I just haven't heard of them yet.
- sliverstorm 12y agoAn inspiring story, although I feel like it supports my point. My parent was basically stipulating that college is a waste of time for the gifted, but from the sound of Faraday's story he spent a lot of time on a sort of a "college track" of learning & lectures, even though he wasn't enrolled. It's a great story of tenacity, but it reads more like "determined underdog gets a foot in the door and proves his worth the hard way" than "gifted magnate skips apprenticeship, becomes master" Thanks for sharing it though :)
- no_future 12y agoThere are many in electrical/mechanical engineering which is I guess considered to be applied physics, to give a couple examples: Thomas Edison and Felix Wankel.
- FiatLuxDave 12y agoDid you know that Freeman Dyson does not have a PhD? Yes, he has been to college (and taught there extensively), but he is an exception to the typical academic path for theoretical physics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson