My first encounter with Einstein was when I bought a second hand white colored book College Physics by R. L. Weber, M. W. White, and K. V. Manning. There I saw a chapter on relativity glowing as beautiful as the sunrise!

Then, came the second encounter when I bought a pocket book Relativity for the Million by Martin Gardner. Out my daily savings, I got the book from Alemars at Avenida Rizal as there were no National Bookstore at that time. Neither were there Mercury Drug as there were Botica Boei.

A group of Earth Science Students under Ms Nelly Ramos Rana visited Professor Jose Villanueva at the Physics Department of UP Diliman. There, we had some lectures on relativity theory of Einstein. After the lecture we played softball at the back of the Main Library. That was my third encounter and at the same time my first visit to UP Diliman, my university alma mater.

The fourth encounter came on the last day of my junior year and closing of the MaSci school year 1969-70. As I got my school card, I read : "promoted to IV-Einstein". With 35 of 68 incoming senior students in IV-Einstein, it was a huge challenge being in the honor section.

Much later, a day before our graduation day on May 1, 1971, the the book went back to one of the bookstores at Claro M Recto. It was sold so I can buy a Hickok belt at Good Earth Emporium for my new black graduation pants.

Now, Albert Einstein is in my office permanently. Hanging on the wall in front of my office table is a 2.5' by 2' framed picture with a caption - "I M A G I N A T I O N - "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein.

Dream come true.

Labels: alemars, boei, CEO blog, einstein, MaSci, physics, recto, relativity, Ricalde, Rizal Avenue, UP

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