"In science, as well as in other fields of human endeavor, there are two kinds of geniuses: the “ordinary” and the “magicians.” An ordinary genius is a fellow that you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better. There is no mystery as to how his mind works. Once we understand what he has done, we feel certain that we, too, could have done it. It is different with the magicians. They are, to use mathematical jargon, in the orthogonal complement of where we are and the working of their minds is for all intents and purposes incomprehensible. Even after we understand what they have done, the process by which they have done it is completely dark. They seldom, if ever, have students because they cannot be emulated and it must be terribly frustrating for a brilliant young mind to cope with the mysterious ways in which the magician’s mind works. Richard Feynman is a magician of the highest caliber. Hans Bethe, whom Dyson considers to be his teacher, is an “ordinary genius”; so much so that one may gain the erroneous impression that he is not a genius at all. But it was Feynman, only slightly older than Dyson, who captured the young man's imagination."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Mark Kac, in his introduction to Enigmas of Chance : An Autobiography (1985), p. xxv
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Magic_(supernatural)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Magic (supernatural)
182 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Magic (supernatural) →
Related Quotes
"The abolition of magic will be a white stone on the path of the World. 249."
"She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well…"
"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
"Look at the children around you and you will find the magic curtain, magic indeed in this respect, that instead of dr…"
"The warrior said, “Much can be achieved without magic. We do not trick or compel materials to behave against their na…"
"Gerry Durrell was, to use the modern idiom, Magic. You imbibe it in his books, you feel it in his Zoo, you see it in …"
"There is no magic in parchment or in wax."
"The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions."
"Above all, every relation must be considered as suspicious, which depends in any degree upon religion, as the prodigi…"
"It must not be forgotten that the old methods of magic were connected with other forms of life. Of course, magic is b…"