Talent “hits the target others cannot hit; genius hits the target others cannot see”, said Arthur Schopenhauer, the nineteenth century philosopher. Albert Einstein, whose name would in the following century become synonymous with genius, illustrated Schopenhauer’s definition. Other clever physicists derived brilliant solutions to complex problems which had bemused less talented men. But Einstein solved problems that others had not really understood existed.
19世紀的哲學家亞瑟•叔本華(Arthur Schopenhauer)說過,人才「實現的目標其他人無法實現;天才實現的目標其他人連看都看不到」。艾伯特•愛因斯坦(Albert Einstein)就是叔本華對天才定義的例證,他的名字將在隨後的一個世紀裏成爲天才的代名詞。其他聰明的物理學家找到了複雜問題的非凡解決方法,這些問題讓不那麼有才能的人們感到困惑。而愛因斯坦則解決了其他人完全不知道還存在的問題。