One example from the article (few more inside)
Ithi Junger. British astrophysicist John Gribbin reported in his 2013 biography Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution that, at the age of 39, Schrödinger became enamored of 14-year-old Ithi, whom he was tutoring in math. “As well as the maths, the lessons included ‘a fair amount of petting and cuddling’ [as Schrödinger stated in his diary] and Schrödinger soon convinced himself that he was in love with Ithi.” There is no evidence that things went beyond “petting and cuddling” when Ithi was 14, but before he died in 1961 Schrödinger admitted that he’d impregnated her when she was 17. Her abortion left her sterile.
And the author's conclusion:
Meanwhile, I’m still dealing with my shock about Erwin Schrödinger. For me right now, he exists in two states of being at once. In other words, Erwin Schrödinger has become Schrödinger’s Cat. He is both a beacon of scientific light and a monster. Both/and, not yet either/or. That being said, some behavior is just too putrid to tolerate. As the revelations about his behavior continue to curdle inside of me, one of those views will take precedence. Very soon, I suspect, I will say, “He’s dead to me.”
I do not agree with this conclusion. For me, he can both be a scientific light and a monster. In the same way, I can still very much enjoy the artistic genius of Kevin Spacey, despite him getting cancelled a few years back for raping a boy.
What do you think? Is a genius dead to you on all fronts once they did something awful?
(I may have shared a similar article here in the past, but I couldn't find it.)
I don't have a hard time partitioning a person's good deeds from their evil ones usually. At least retroactively and when the deeds are independent of each other.
That’s basically how I feel. Why should I need to like someone to acknowledge their ideas were interesting?
I do find the case of actors different, though, because it’s hard to set aside the deeds while staring at the person’s face.
To be fair, Spacey has never been found guilty in any criminal or civil case related to the accusations.
to shine a lot means to cast a lot of shadow
The fact that he is a quantum genius does not hide the fact that he was also a monster, but I think it is up to us to decide what to remember him for. I do not want to defend him, in fact what he did is monstrous. but he also revolutionized physics, I don't think it's a bad thing to just remember the good things he did. Oppenheimer created the ultimate weapon of destruction, but he also contributed to scientific discoveries in an impeccable way.