Friedrich Nietzsche on Why a Fulfilling Life Requires Embracing Rather than Running from Difficulty
German philosopher, poet, composer, and writer Friedrich Nietzsche (October 15, 1844–August 25, 1900) is among humanity’s most enduring, influential, and oft-cited minds — and he seemed remarkably confident that he would end up that way. Nietzsche famously called the populace of philosophers “cabbage-heads,” lamenting: “It is my fate to have to be the first decent human being. I have a terrible fear that I shall one day be pronounced holy.” In one letter, he considered the prospect of posterity enjoying his work: “It seems to me that to take a book of mine into his hands is one of the rares...
The man who taught infinity: how GH Hardy tamed Srinivasa Ramanujan’s genius
Throughout the history of mathematics, there has been no one remotely like Srinivasa Ramanujan. There is no doubt that he was a great mathematician, but had he had simply a good university education and been taught by a good professor in his field, we wouldn’t have a film about him.As the years pass, I admire more and more the astonishing body of work Ramanujan produced in India before he made contact with any top mathematicians. Not because the results he got at the time changed the face of mathematics, far from it, but because, working by himself, he fearlessly attacked many import...
Let There Be Light: An Exploration of the Life of Nikola Tesla
A great deal is known about Nikola Tesla’s origins—namely, his country and people, to which and of whom he attributed so great a deal. The inventor recognized that he came from an extremely conflicted area in the Balkans, full of strife, struggling for identity— a state which remains to this day. He once said, “hardly is there a nation which has met with a sadder fate than the Serbians. Europe can never repay the great debt it owes to the Serbians for checking, by the sacrifice of its own liberty, that barbarian influx” (Seifer 1). He was exceedingly passionate about his heritage; the basis...
The unheard violinist
Composers of any era can be immortalized through their scores, but posterity is not as kind to performers who lived before the advent of recordings. The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim was arguably the most important fiddle player of the 19th century, and Aug. 15 will mark the 100th anniversary of his death. But don't worry if you've made other plans and can't attend the centenary tributes. There are virtually none, at least not in this country. Almost no one seems to have remembered.As a soloist and chamber musician, Joachim (1831-1907) looms large in the annals of music history....
Child Prodigy Statistics
Child Prodigy StatisticsThose little “small persons” can also be very smart. Now, although every parent sees his child as an adorable genius, numbers - the great sumerizer of reality - can shed some bright light on the actual presence of extreme brilientness in children. When talking about child prodigies a lot of numerical questions arouse: how many of them are there? What is the probability of having a prodigy child? Who is more likely to become one? Does the boys/girls distribution equal? How many of ...
