Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 26, 2023

Who could imagine more than Einstein? He never meet Trump.

Knowledge is finite and imagination has no limits!

Mrs Einstein

Einstein’s work started with his “thought experiments”, like when he imagined what would happen if one could actually travel at the speed of light. This eventually led (after years of work) to his General Theory of Relativity. But he never did any actual experiments like other physicists; his work was entirely in the use of his mind.

I imagine more than I know. I also know more than I understand. Lost in imagination. Not so much lost in thought.

Let’s see, J. S. Bach, Hector Berlioz . .

What’s fascinating to me about Einstein, as a physicist, is that Einstein is famous among physicists for his lack of imagination about the nature of quantum mechanics, despite the fact that his Nobel Prize was awarded for work that functionally kicked off the quantum mechanical revolution (a description of the photoelectric effect, which requires accepting some very fundamentally quantum mechanical features of reality, which are things that were not universally accepted when he proposed them).

He is imagining lighters?

Meh. Einstein is overrated. He’s become an icon of intelligence far beyond his genius, impressive as that was.

He invented the Zippo lighter? Imagine that!

“The more you know, the more you can imagine.”- Frank C. Rutledge, Chairman, Dept. of Theater, Michigan State University.

Einstein knew a great deal about physics, and thereby could imagine a great deal about it. Other than that, his knowledge and ideas were typical of a well-educated liberal-minded person of his time, including racist, xenophobic and misogynistic ones. His fame as a scientist gave him a classic “bully pulpit”.

Caldwell is imagining a clown??!? How does that relate to Einstein?

Maybe. Zippo was supposedly the funniest Marx Brother when he wasn’t performing.

Zeppo? He wasn’t even the funniest brother.

Zippo? I was thinking Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. They were imaginative.

or Zeppo.

Einstein was brilliant in a particular field of study. He may well have been a total dunce about, say, crocheting or how to vulcanize rubber or effective use of counterpoint in musical composition. One observation I ran across a couple of years ago that I’ve since had many opportunities to pass along is: “Absolutely everybody is absolutely ignorant about almost everything.”

“There is nothing on Earth to compare with pure imagination.” Anthony Newley

Newton could! He created calculus on a dare in his early 20s.

I just thought Zippo made their lighters with many imaginative images engraved.