Page 182 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

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Einstein was able to imagine himself as a photon. We can gain a sense of what Einstein saw by
looking at this beautiful vision by Italian physicist Marco Bellini of an intense laser pulse (the one
in front), being used to measure the shape of a single photon (the one in the back).

Einstein’s theories of relativity arose not from his mathematical skills (he
often needed to collaborate with mathematicians to make progress) but from his

ability to pretend. He imagined himself as a photon moving at the speed of light,
then imagined how a second photon might perceive him. What would that
second photon see and feel?
Barbara McClintock, who won the Nobel Prize for her discovery of genetic
transposition (“jumping genes” that can change their place on the DNA strand),
wrote about how she imagined the corn plants she studied: “I even was able to
see the internal parts of the chromosomes—actually everything was there. It

surprised me because I actually felt as if I were right down there and these were
my friends.” 9