Polymaths

Reading about great thinkers of the past, one often encounters the word 'polymath'. In my own discipline of the economics, some of the polymaths are Jospeh Schumpeter, JM Keynes, Adam Smith and, of course, Karl Marx. While people who show mastery of a particular subject are rare enough, polymaths are even rarer as they  show mastery over a number of subjects. A good friend of mine is a polymath and I just spent two hours talking to him. He graduated at the top of his class from India's premier engineering institute, almost completely a PhD in computer engineering from Notre Dam university, left it to do a diploma in journalism, finishing at the top of the class (which is also where we met) joined a national newspaper as a journalist and became the editor's blue-eyed boy, quit to follow his wife to Sweden where he was offered a PhD position by a statistics professor whom he managed to impress over a casual chat, finished a PhD in statistics and immediately got an assistant professor position at VirginiaTech. His newest hobby is ancient Indian philosophy and he has been reading original texts written in Sanksrit. If wishes were horses he would do a PhD in it.

In the age of specialization, its not easy to be a polymath. Our age rewards focus and specialization. I am no believer in the cult of the genius who can save the world. Polymaths are just great fun to be around, especially if  they are humble like my friend. And, it is a sobering experience being around one. Since I have spent the past few days with my head in the clouds after my article was published, I could do with some humility.