Op-Ed: Would Albert Einstein Come to Los Angeles Today?
LA must work harder to harness its talent and competitive advantages to create quality jobs
by Michael Kelly
Q1 2015 Editorials, Op-Eds
On New Year’s Day 1931, Albert Einstein arrived in Pasadena to take up a winter appointment as a Visiting Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. What drew him here were the theories of a Caltech professor, mathematical physicist Richard Chase Tolman, and a local astronomer Edwin Hubble. The two believed – in contrast to Einstein – that our universe was expanding. That intrigued Einstein.
The idea that Einstein, the greatest mind of the 20th century, came to Los Angeles not only to teach, but also to learn from other prominent thinkers, proved a harbinger of great things to come for the region. For the next 50 years the region’s university and college network grew and took full advantage of LA’s hospitable climate and its innovative and creative spirit to attract hundreds of thousands of new pioneers to their campuses, drawn by a simple idea – regardless of your background, this was a land of opportunity.