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Could Isaac Newton Get a Faculty Job?

Posted by timothy on from the fella-with-the-nutty-apple-theory dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Could Isaac Newton get a faculty job, or is modern society too intolerant of eccentricity? That's one of the questions that Glenn Reynolds asks Neal Stephenson in this interview over at TechCentralstation. Others involve the changing nature of fame in an age of fragmented media, the role of the Seventeenth Century in shaping the modern world, and what it's like to write a book with a fountain pen, in the twenty-first century."

8 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Assholes abound by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Funny

    Newton is rumored to have been an uber-asshole. An asshole among assholes. His main trait wasn't that he was eccentric, it was that he was an asshole to each and everyone he met.

    It depends on the university and the department chair, but I'm willing to bet that you can find assholes in faculty at any given university.

    So yes, Isaac Newton could probably have been hired on despite his assholeness.

    1. Re:Assholes abound by le_jfs · · Score: 3, Funny

      Stephen Hawking, of course, is the current Lucasian Chair.

      I would say he has the current Lucasian wheelchair of Mathematics.

      (before you mod me down, I am only joking)

      --
      main(char O){O++&&(((O-291)*O+27788)*O-868020?1:putchar(O++) )&&main(O);}
  2. Probably not by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

    The spectre of lawsuits arising from apples to the head would be enough to turn Sir Issac away at the door.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  3. Interview by cubicledrone · · Score: 3, Funny

    The HR blimp would call him "overqualified" and middle management would ignore him because his agency told him to "put his education last."

    --
    Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
  4. Only problem being by nizo · · Score: 5, Funny
    Could Isaac Newton get a faculty job, or is modern society too intolerant of eccentricity?

    Eccentricity is ok, its the whole dead thing that might make it hard for him to get hired. Then again, with some of the braindead teachers I have had in the past, maybe not.

    What do you mean you haven't published anything in over 300 years??

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
  5. Re:Isaac Newton alive today? by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Q: What would Isaac Newton be doing, if he were alive today?
    A: Clawing at the lid of his coffin.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  6. Benjamin Franklin by suso · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ben Franklin would probably get arrested for flying a kite without a license.

  7. Re:If Isaac newton was alive today he would not by dgenr8 · · Score: 4, Funny


    The evidence supports your theory: Newton died celibate.