It is fascinating to look back at the scientists, researchers and thinkers of the past, and at how they wrote and reached conclusions about their incredible ideas, theories and thoughts.
I mean the many publications whose theories and ideas would leave their mark on the world.
What led Charles Darwin to write the theory of evolution, or Albert Einstein the theory of relativity? They were among the great thinkers of their time. We can speculate about what made them who they became. We know much about their upbringing and lives. Were they born with the right genes? Did their environment matter? What about all the people who had the honour of being around them? Did those people influence what Darwin or Einstein thought, did or explored, leading to these wonderful theories and ideas?
I do not think Darwin and Einstein were born thinking they would write their fascinating and significant theories. They were influenced by the world around them. They created and received impressions from the cities, hotels, restaurants and people around them.
Not to mention what was happening in the wider world at the time. They did not have the internet as we do, but people passed information among themselves through speech, newspapers, texts, books and early radios. Much happened that would influence their generation.
It was almost “in the air” that one or more people might arrive at a theory of evolution or relativity at that time. These fascinating thinkers were needed for us to understand the world differently from earlier theories, which might not have existed or might have contained gaps and errors.
Einstein and Darwin came into the world just like the rest of us, born with a brain and body. Perhaps they had different genes and a more “prepared” brain. But they began in the same way as all of us. What they did differently was choose another path: the path of knowledge, leading to insight and understanding. Perhaps they consciously chose their surroundings, or perhaps they let things happen. Either way, they moved towards becoming better informed.
Perhaps there is a lesson here: you are born with the same starting point as Darwin or Einstein, and the choices you make, which shape your surroundings, help determine what you become.
Much depends on what you want for yourself.
“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way...but intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.” — Albert Einstein
“My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.” — Charles Darwin
Check out: What Came to Define You Read the related article
Which path do you choose? What surroundings do you choose? Will they include knowledge?
See also Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein on Wikipedia. https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
