October 7, 2016 Friday
Bedtime Story
Abraham Flexner getting cozy with Carnegie and the Rockefeller Foundation and Dreaming Big
Once done with America, Flexner headed for Europe and conducted a
similar study of medical education in Europe.
You might think that this is the end of the Flexner story.
You could not be more wrong my dear Sir.
Flexner’s best was yet to come.
By now he had joined the company of the powerful and wealthy.
By 1912 at the age of 46 he had joined both the Carnegie
Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation and had the access to men with very
deep pockets.
Andrew Carnegie as you may know was an industrial magnet who is
known as one of the richest Americans ever.
In the article that he wrote way back in 1889 “The Gospel of
Wealth” he strongly advocated philanthropy, i.e. giving away wealth by the
newly self-made rich for the betterment of the society.
During his last 18 years he spent giving away almost 90% of his
fortune to foundations and charities that would eventually find their way to
education in the form of university grants.
Similarly the Rockefeller family is considered one of the most
powerful families in the history of the United States.
They had their hands into everything one can think of, including
industries, politics and banking.
The Standard Oil Co. Inc. which was one of the world’s first and
largest multinational company was founded by John D. Rockefeller.
The Chase Manhattan Bank was largely controlled by the Rockefeller
family.
So wealthy and powerful were the Rockefeller family that it is
almost impossible for an average person to contemplate the scale of their wealth
and expanse of their power and patronage.
My understanding is that it would take a Rothschild to understand
a Rockefeller.
So Abraham Flexner was now with the exceptionally big league and
so his reputation had firm backing of powerful foundations of iconic families.
Abraham Flexner started to dream huge.
His dream became to set up an institute where knowledge would be
pursued for its own sake.
There would not be any courses, programs or lectures or even
experimental laboratories.
Every mathematician or a theoretical scientist would be left to
himself to think, to dream and publish if he wishes to.
But who would pay for building such a dreamy surreal kind of
academic house?
Who would pay for the salaries of such useless non-productive
thinkers?
What about their housing and what about their meals that too in
the 1920s and 1930s immediately after the misery brought about by the World War
I compounded by America’s Great Depression.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average storytelling chimpanzee or
login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
Another great educator and teacher that I am aware of is Professor
Subhashish in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, he actually does and teaches real
mathematics and physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All
his books can be downloaded for free through this link.
For
entertainment may I suggest Kids Songs channel.
Andrew Carnegie was firm on that large fortune should not be bequeathed to next generation as it would only end in them squandering it
His essay "The Gospel of Wealth" ushered in a wave of philanthropy from other wealthy American families
Real estate is exactly what my family invested in
John Rockefeller is without question the richest American that has ever been so far in the history of the United States
John Rockefeller's philanthropy was at par with that of Andrew Carnegie, becoming a great benefactor medical science
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