# Ed Witten is the smartest man in the world

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-witten-is-the-smartest-man-in-the-world/685177>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 2, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-witten-is-the-smartest-man-in-the-world/685177 "2014-04-02T16:26:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-witten-is-the-smartest-man-in-the-world/685177/21 "2014-04-03T02:04:07Z")

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Tesla has been rehabilitated, which is a good thing. At least now he’s known to many ordinary folks, not just college dweebs. One favorite story about him is his ability to picture an object, say a car engine, accurately in his memory --to a point wherein he can take measurements inside his head.

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**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ed-witten-is-the-smartest-man-in-the-world/685177/22 "2014-04-03T02:17:23Z")

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I remember hearing how, at a physics conference of some sort, Witten stood up among his peers and said “you have all been approaching string theory incorrectly, it must be viewed like so…”

Intelligence is not necessarily what advances humanity forward, but to see what is hidden in plain sight.

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