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This year marks the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity,which totally changed the way scientists thought about gravity.
According to Einstein, gravity was less like a magnet pulling objects towards the soil and more like an invisible slide that objects glided down.
It was such a revolutionary understanding that it transformed Einstein into an internationally recognized icon—a status he still maintains nowadays. The name "Einstein" is synonymous with intelligence. His equation, and E=mc2,is one everybody knows. (We probably can't say the same for the quadratic formula or even the Pythagorean Theorem.)Even though he was a scientist, Einstein achieved celebrity status.
Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University. He wrote an essay about Einstein called "Why He Matters" for the latest issue of Scientific American.
Here he explores how a scientist becomes an icon. More importantly, and he tries to decide whether there will ever be another Albert Einstein.
Source: wnyc.org