A College Class That Was Ridiculed, A Street Full Of Protests, And A Cottage That Contained Secrets: Why 'Scenius' Is Usually More Powerful Than Genius
The 3-Word Quote: ‘Two Flints, Fire’
1.
The headlines usually pop up this time of year - the beginning of the school and college year.
You've probably seen them.
The headlines tout the most popular classes at well-known colleges, apparently providing a window into what is important to young adults.
Harvard's most popular class is Positive Psychology 1504. One article declared it, ‘The most popular course in the history of Harvard University.'
High praise - Harvard was founded in 1636.
Yale University's most popular class is Psychology and the Good Life. Its goal is to teach students how to live a more meaningful life.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's most popular class is not a psychology class.
The class is called Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python.
MIT students are a little different than those from Harvard or Yale, apparently.
Regardless of the class or college, many university professors take pride in the class they teach being popular.
Professors strive to produce quality lectures and value the popularity of their classes.
It's human nature to want to be liked.
And wanting to teach a popular class has been a goal for, well, probably since Harvard was founded (remember, it was 1636).
And that desire for popularity was present at the University of Chicago nearly 100 years ago.
Those professors wanted kids in their classes.
One professor at The University of Chicago was Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
He was known as Chandra around campus and taught courses on astronomy and astrophysics.
In the early 1940s, Chandra was thrilled to teach one particular class on astrophysics.
However, the class had to be held at a university observatory in Wisconsin—close to 100 miles away from the main campus.
Chandra was passionate about the material for his new class, so he did not let the distance he would have to travel to teach it deter him.
He couldn't wait for the class to commence.
However, when registration closed at the University of Chicago, his class had a grand total of two students.
Two.
An embarrassing low number.
And Chandra was a little disappointed.
A few other professors snickered at the shockingly low number of registered students.
Some university administrators ridiculed the class. They discussed canceling the class as it clearly wasn't popular.
The university wondered how conducting this class could be cost-effective—having a professor teach a class of two 100 miles away seemed silly.
But despite the small class, the ridicule from professors, and the doubt from university officials, Chandra decided to proceed with the class.
He would drive the 100 miles to a different state to teach his material - to two students.
He figured if only two students wanted to take the class, then he would teach it to those two.
That University of Chicago class may not have been popular.
But it turned out to be, perhaps, the smartest class in the history of higher education.
2.
You may not have heard of Vilakazi Street.
It's a street like many others in cities across the world.
Quite busy. Shops, restaurants, a few museums line the street.
But decades ago, conditions on the street were awful.
People had little and were treated terribly.
There was one public phone for every 26,000 residents in the area around Vilakazi Street.
Roughly 15% of residents had electricity.
And 75% didn't have running water.
But the area - and especially the street - has a rich history.
And Vilakazi Street can claim something no other street in the world can claim.
And it has helped make it a tourist attraction.
But decades ago, people wanted to avoid visiting Vilakazi Street.
They were trying to leave.
3.
It has a stone front and wood trim that is painted brown.
The style and size of the house give it a look that would make it fit comfortably in the woods in the Adirondack Mountains.
But this tiny house is out West.
It has two bedrooms and a large center fireplace.
The house has had several residents over the years, and it was often described by them as 'cozy.'
But its serene, calm looks were deceptive.
Because some of the greatest secrets in the world lived inside the four walls.
The takeaway:
So what does a class that was ridiculed for low registration, a street that is now a tourist attraction, and a small house full of secrets all have in common?
They are all examples of success, based in part, because of scenius, not genius.
Musician and producer Brian Eno first coined the term scenius.
The term is a play on the word genius.
When most think of a genius, a brilliant creator is imagined. They are a master writer, inventor, composer, or artist.
But most also imagine that person working alone.
Solo.
Toiling away in isolation.
Those we consider geniuses at times do work alone.
But very often, their work was part of a larger scene. Others were often part of their work. Other people were working on material similar to that of the genius - and in the same area at the same time.
The result of many working together - and sometimes apart - in the same area can result in a product that is greater than what could have been produced by a lone individual.
Throughout history, these collections of people have converged on a place and created a scene, a place that is a hotbed of creativity - like art in Italy hundreds of years ago or music in Seattle decades ago.
Eno combined the word 'genius' with 'scene' to form 'scenius' - a word used to represent a collective genius.
Eno said he was taught in art school to believe that a lone genius is often responsible for the world's great art and ideas.
But Eno said, 'As I looked more at art more and more I discovered that wasn't really a true picture. What really happened was there were sometimes very fertile scenes involving lots and lots of people - some of them artists, some of them collectors, some of them creators, thinkers, theorists, people who were fashionable knew what the hip things were - all sorts of people who created a kind of ecology of talent. And out of that ecology arose some wonderful work.'
Scenius.
And what of our stories - the class, the street, and the house?
The astronomy class at The University of Chicago.
The one Chandra wanted to teach with only two registered students.
The class that was quietly made fun of behind Chandra's back.
The professor went on to teach the class because he was passionate and dedicated to his subject.
His two students were T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang
The students were like their professor - obsessed with the material and hungry to learn.
And in a way, a small scenius was created where the three discussed things few others understood or cared about.
The three spent much time discussing, debating, and collaborating.
And although nearly canceled, the class was a tremendous success.
In 1983, Chandra, the brilliant professor, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Oddly enough, before Chandra won his Nobel Prize, Tsung-Dee Lee won a Nobel Prize in physics.
Lee was one of the two students in the class that Chandra taught.
Quite a group - the professor won a Nobel Prize and one of his two students won a Nobel prize.
Amazing.
But Lee's prize was awarded jointly in 1957.
The other Nobel Prize winner in physics that year?
Chen-Ning Yang.
C.N. Yang - the other student in Chandra's small class at The University of Chicago in the early 1940s.
One professor. Two students. All in one small class.
And all three Nobel Prize winners.
A class that was ridiculed and nearly canceled is now considered the most intelligent class in the history of education.
***
And what of Vilakazi Street?
This was the street that was full of unrest at the time but pregnant with hope.
But Vilakazi Street is located in South Africa. In Soweto.
And Soweto was the epicenter of unrest and protest against South Africa's laws of Apartheid.
In 1976, during protests that became known as the Soweto Uprising, a twelve-year-old boy, Hector Pieterson, was shot and killed by police.
Pieterson fell dead on the corner of Vilakazi Street.
Over 500 other protesters were killed, too.
The deaths were the beginning of other countries' sanctions on South Africa.
The sanctions occurred from far away, but local protests raged. One of the leaders of the opposition to Apartheid lived on Vilakazi Street from 1946 to 1962.
His name was Nelson Mandela.
Mandela, who later became South Africa's first black president, knew the street well since it had been his home for decades.
Years after Apartheid ended, decades after Pieterson's death, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Along with F.W. De Klerk, Mandela was awarded the prize for 'momentous contribution to peaceful elimination of Apartheid in South Africa.'
Vilakazi Street saw death and tragedy. And it saw rebirth and protests.
But now, it is known as the only street in the world to have had two Nobel prize winners live on the same street.
Two.
Mandela won in 1993.
But Desmond Tutu was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize one year later for his work against Apartheid.
And Tutu had a house a short distance from Mandela's residence - on Vilakazi Street.
The two did not know each other until they were adults. But their cause was the same.
The times and the scene created many leaders - a scenius.
South Africa has a saying: 'Two bulls cannot be found in the same kraal' - meaning you can't have two leaders in the same area.
But in Soweto decades ago, there were many bulls in the kraal—and two of them happened to win Nobel Peace Prizes.
And when Mandela was finally freed after 27 years in jail, he spent his first night of freedom at Desmond Tutu's house - on Vilakazi Street, of course.
And that street is known to be the only street to have had two Nobel Prize winners live.
***
And the small cottage that held many secrets?
The house looked like it belonged on the East Coast, but that little stone house was located in New Mexico.
The house was first called Master Cottage Number 1 and was originally built to be a residence for a ranch school for boys.
The director of the school called it home first.
The house later caught fire and was rebuilt with its current stone front.
But it didn't last long as part of a ranch school—the house and the entire school were purchased for a project.
A secret project.
You see, the cottage was located in Los Alamos, and the secret project was The Manhattan Project.
But this little cottage was not Robert Oppenheimer's house.
It became home to several residents - all prominent scientists working to create the atomic bomb.
Edwin and Elise McMillan lived in the cottage with their daughter for a time.
McMillan was a key scientist who helped create the bomb.
And in 1951, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 'discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements.'
The cottage is referred to as The Hans Bethe house.
Bethe, a physicist, moved to Los Alamos towards the end of 1945, and he moved into the cottage when he arrived.
After the war, Bethe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967 for 'his contributions to the theory of number reactions, especially the discoveries concerning the energy production in stars'.
One small cottage that housed two different Nobel Prize winners.
Both winners, part of a scenius.
***
Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine, says there are a few items that are often needed to create a scenius, regardless of the field of creation:
Mutual appreciation- risky moves are appreciated and applauded
Rapid exchange of tools and technologies- ideas flow quickly, and tools and knowledge are shared and spread
Network effect of success - success is contagious and shared within the scene
Local tolerance for novelty - lack of harsh pushback toward the scene from others; renegades and mavericks are protected
A class that shared a desire to work with people with similar passions.
A street whose scenius was created out of harsh times and necessity.
And a cottage that housed scientists who were part of a deliberately created scenius.
Three different places - all hotbeds of thought and progress.
And three places whose progress was primarily driven by groups, not single individuals.
***
The 2024 Nobel Prize announcements will occur early next month.
3 things before you go:
watch/read: haven’t seen this before; fascinating
listen: always an interesting listen
listen: one reviewer once said the above group reminded them of R.E.M. - so here you go
Thanks for reading. Back in 10 days.
-Jeff