Omnia profecto cum se coelestibus rebus referet ad humanas, excelsius magnificentiusque, et dicus et sentiet. (The contemplation of celestial things will make a man both speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when he descends to human affairs.)
—CiceroIT IS INEVITABLE that with the passage of time Einstein's general relativity theory, his theory of gravitation, will be taught more frequently at an undergraduate level. It is a difficult theory—but just as some athletic records fifty years ago might have been deemed nearly impossible to achieve, and today will be surpassed regularly by well-trained university sportsmen, likewise Einstein's theory, now over seventy-five years since creation, is after a lengthy gestation making its way into the world of undergraduate mathematics and physics courses, and finding a more or less permanent place in the syllabus of such courses. The theory can now be considered both an accessible and a worthy, serious object of study by mathematics and physics students alike who may be rather above average in their aptitude for these subjects, but who are not necessarily proposing, say, to embark on an academic career in the mathematical sciences. This is an excellent state of affairs, and can be regarded, perhaps, as yet another aspect of the overall success of the theory.
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