Albert Einstein.
By Dwight Comer CPIM CIRM CSCP
One of the most interesting people of the 20th century was a physics theorist by the name of Albert Einstein. All though we all know his name and probably the extent of our knowledge about him is that he was extraordinarily brilliant but I’m guessing that there are some fascinating aspects about our hero that you may not know.
We are all probably aware of his work with his theory of relativity and specifically the special and general theories of relativity, you know E=mc2. That’s not a bad start because people like Paul Dirac the great physicist and mathematician once said that “relativity was probably the greatest scientific discovery ever made”. Interestingly enough, Einstein didn’t receive his Nobel Prize for his theory of relativity but for his discovery for the law of photoelectric effect.
I realize this next paragraph is going to put you to sleep, but browse through Einstein’s contributions. He is credited with the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semi-classical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose-Einstein condensation. In fact Einstein published over 300 scientific works and is considered the father of modern physics.
Now you would think that someone with that kind of talent and ability would come out of school and have no trouble landing a great job, and you would be wrong. Einstein couldn’t find a job just out of school. In fact he went two years before he landed his first job and that was as something of a low level bureaucrat in the patent office. Now why is that information relevant to us? Because it shows the importance of professionally networking on Face Book sites like Supply Chain Today. Don’t rely solely on what you know, it’s also important in who you know.
While Einstein’s didn’t initially have a network to help him get started he later used networking to great advantage. He met with key friends in what he termed the “Olympia Academy” in what was kind of a face book page for scientists if you will. It was from that academy that Einstein shaped some of his scientific and philosophical view points. It was the exchange of thought and encouragement that he received from the Olympia Academy that helped propel him to share and promote his ideas. It wasn’t always easy. Many institutions claimed to have disproved his earlier theories until better instruments and better processes later showed he was correct. Without a network many of the changes and benefits we enjoy from science today might never have happened.
So again why is this important, because we all need to understand the importance of a professional network. It would be very difficult for you to advance very far without the right connections. I know some of you will argue that you are set career wise and don’t really need a network. Don’t be so sure. In today’s economy you never know. Take it from someone who has been down that road, you do not want to be caught out in the cold without a network. Start today. Be an active participant in Supply Chain Today. Not only log onto Face Book regularly but offer your insights to the latest supply chain ideas.
