Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Cafe
Having never come across this term before, I was intrigued. Like some of the best discoveries, I stumbled onto it when I couldn’t find where I had stored an article that I wanted to draw from for this blog. I could only remember that the article seemed to have been something from a Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Facebook post. When I googled Neil deGrasse Tyson, I saw the term polymath applied to him.
A polymath is someone of vast knowledge across many different areas. Typically they average an IQ of 196. deGrasse Tyson has an IQ of 123, but his vast knowledge across disciplines qualifies him.
In a post from the BBC entitled “Why Some People are Impossibly Talented,” the author referred to a fellow named Waqas Ahmed who published a book The Polymath in 2019.
One of the most detailed examinations of the subject comes from Waqas Ahmed in his book The Polymath, published in 2019.
A highly talented man himself, though he modestly says it is too esteemed a designation to consider himself a polymath, he has “an undergraduate degree in economics and post-graduate degrees in international relations and neuroscience, Ahmed has worked as a diplomatic journalist and personal trainer (which he learnt through the British Armed Forces). Today, he is pursuing his love of visual art as the artistic director of one of the world’s largest private art collections, while also working as a professional artist himself.”
Ahmed’s research led him to only consider “those who had made significant contributions to at least three fields, such as Leonardo da Vinci (the artist, inventor and anatomist), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (the great writer who also studied botany, physics and mineralogy) and Florence Nightingale (who, besides founding modern nursing, was also an accomplished statistician and theologian).”
Other information I gleaned related to a post I recall seeing on Facebook about Hedy LaMarr, the actress from 1930’s and early 40’s, known for “femme fatale” roles. Few knew she had a great passion for inventing. She had even designed airplanes for her lover Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon.
Later she paired up with George Anthiel, pianist, composer, novelist, who had an interest in engineering. Learning that enemy forces were jamming the Allied radio signals, the two devised a method called “frequency-hopping spread spectrum,” still in use today in much of the wireless technology.
Back to my original interest in deGrasse Tyson: his most remarkable quality in my estimation is his desire to foster “scientific curiosity in others. Especially for young people, Tyson aims ‘not just to teach them science, but to teach them to love science.’” (History Tools, November 19,2023).
“A good teacher can inspire hope, imagination, and a love of learning,”wrote Brad Henry, governor of Oklahoma 2003-2011, who heralded raising teachers’ salaries, and funding for higher education in the state by granting approval for a lottery to raise money.
The good news is we don’t have to be polymaths to cultivate hope, imagination, and love of learning in ourselves and, by example, perhaps inspire such in others.
The invitation is open to share “two cups of tea” anytime at Hope’s Café, or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.
May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” of Hope’s Café for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
Hope's Cafe 