Quote of the day: Einstein's escape

In a CNET News.com story on the continued resonance of Albert Einstein's work, author Andrew Robinson says it's a good thing the scientist's revolutionary physics papers were launched without the support--or hindrances--associated with being a typical young university researcher.

"It's unlikely he could have come up with relativity and quantum theory as a junior lecturer in a well-established physics department, where such ideas would probably have been suppressed as cranky, coming from a man with no reputation," said Robinson, who wrote and edited a related book to be published later this year.